Celestial Being: Adding Another Side
by D.M.Ash
Summary: In this Gundam 00 AU, Celestial Being has another side to it, apart from Fereshte. What would happen if this group was a reinforcement unit for the Ptolemaios, and had a few twists to it that could be connected to a certain Ptolemy crew member?
1. Another Side

Celestial Being – Adding Another Side

Phase 01 – Another Side

_Lagrange Point 3 – January 23, 2299 A.D., Unknown space station_

Sirens go off within the space station as an eight year old boy, with short black hair and heterochromic brown and red eyes, along with a six year old girl, with long pink hair and green eyes, ran together in the station, looking for the nearest escape pod. Apparently an unknown accident occurred that required all personnel to evacuate the station. The two ran as the station shook from sudden explosions. The girl tripped and the boy stopped to help her up and said, "Come on Grace!"

The girl was helped up and the continued running, finding an escape shuttle. The boy pressed on the communicator and said, "Is anyone there?"

A female voice replied, "I'm sorry but this escape pod is filled to capacity."

The boy urged on, "Please, at least take my friend, she's a girl."

There was a bit of silence when the female voice said, "Okay then." The door opened to the shuttle and the two children saw that the escape pod was indeed full. The woman who spoke to them was shocked to see two children standing before her, while the girl said, "But Sana, what about-?"

"Don't worry about me, here," The boy handed the girl a small pendant in the shape of a flower with an emerald in the center that matched her eyes, "We'll find each other again someday, I promise."

The girl had tears in her eyes as the boy helped her into the shuttle. The woman beckoned to him and said, "You come in too."

The boy shook his head and said, "No, I'll find another way." He pressed the button and the door to the shuttle started to close. The boy smiled at the girl and the last thing she heard him say was, "I'll see you later Grace."

Soon after the door closed, the shuttle shook as the air locks reinforced themselves, and they knew that the escape pod shuttle had taken off from the station. As for the girl known as Feldt Grace, that was the last time she ever saw her friend that she cared about ever again.

* * *

_Present time – a hidden ship holding high orbit over Earth_

"So, the time has come huh?" A girl, who had brown hair and grey eyes, wearing a white dress with jeans underneath, and looks to be about twelve years old, says. Sitting on a chair that looks to be a Captain's chair, the girl was currently looking over a number of monitors, her eyes looking like she was trying to assessing the situation.

The girl wasn't alone as two seventeen year old boys were on the bridge with her. The two of them were actually twins, having black hair and heterochromic eyes, the left being red, and the right being brown.

Both of them were standing on either side of the girl and the one to the girl's left, who's hair was short and messy, wearing grey jeans and a white open dress shirt with a grey t-shirt underneath, said, "So, Celestial Being's finally making it's official move against the world, eh Brother?"

The other boy, whose hair was a bit straighter and longer, and had an eye patch over his red eye, wearing black jeans and a white shirt, said stoically, "Looks like it…"

"You know, acting like an emotionless person like that Setsuna F. Seiei really isn't your style Alexi." The boy with the messy hair commented.

The boy known as Alexi shot back casually, "I don't really care about that Hayden. And I don't act like that Setsuna, I just don't show my emotions."

Hayden was about to say something when the girl said, "Alexi and Hayden Sana, please be quiet and focus on the observation."

"Yes, Miss Lia." The twins said simultaneously. That's when Hayden went over to Alexi and whispered, "It's hard to believe that she's actually an AI on par with VEDA."

All Alexi did was nod and watched the monitors, one of which showed the viewing of the AEU's newest mobile suit, the Enact, being shown on display. Lia heard all of that, but all she did was sigh as she continued watching the monitors.

Lia was actually a 'smart AI' called LIASS, which stood for Live Intelligence, Artificial Sentience System, but was called Lia when addressed. She was the same as VEDA, but her capabilities were more limited than VEDA, but as a trade off she was given a sentient human-like intelligence from her creators and a body extension which she currently resided in that pretty much made her look and act like a human. Despite that, she has access rights and other restrictions on her that are pretty high, like having Level Seven access to VEDA, and that no one is able to access her like how Tieria does to VEDA. In an ironic twist of fate, Lia's current body looked like a twelve year old version of Sumeragi Lee Noriega with a few differences, despite having that artificial body for more than a hundred years.

Now, the three of them were currently watching the Exia take apart the Enact real easily, which made Hayden say, "Wow, now that's what I call flawless. As expected of the third-generation Gundams, makes me wish that I was one of the main Gundam Meisters, or at least with Big Sis Chall and Fereshte."

Alexi rolled his eyes, while Lia said, "Oh shut up Hayden, you already have your very own personal Gundam. What more do you want?"

"I know, but the two Gundams we have right now are technically antiques," Hayden pressed a button on Lia's chair, and an additional screen popped up, showing two Gundams that were both slate gray for some reason, "They're from the time when Aeolia Schenberg was still alive, and even though they were completely rebuilt from the inside out with Celestial Being's current technology, I just can't help but wonder."

"The Justice and Freedom can match the specs of the third generation Gundams right now, despite them lacking a GN Drive." Alexi said, still keeping his eyes glued to the screen, which now showed the Exia fighting the AEU forces stationed at the elevator, with the Dynames providing fire support.

The ZGMFS-X09A Justice and ZGMFS-X10A Freedom, considered to be pre-generation Gundams by Celestial Being, but only a very few members actually know about them, and even then, there were rumors going around for quite a while about the ZGMF Series. Back during the time of when Aeolia Schenberg was still alive, there were two genius siblings that were making quite the head line into mobile suit technology, Nathan and Natalie Kino.

They did try to introduce mobile suits back in the late 21St century, but they were rebuked by militaries, saying that they weren't worth it and were going to be impractical in military combat at the time. They went underground, and were busy developing the Zero Gravity Maneuver Fighter Series to prove themselves when Aeolia Schenberg found them and brought them into their plan for Celestial Being. One could say that's where the origins of the current Gundams came from, thought they weren't called that at the time until Aeolia named them.

Back to the Justice and Freedom, they don't use GN Drives, but their default engines: nuclear reactors small enough to fit in a mobile suit. Oddly enough, the ship they're on does have one GN Drive onboard, but Lia was using it for research and development reasons, as well as other purposes. The Sana twins have tried to ask her the reason, but Lia wouldn't tell them, saying it's a secret.

Lia's side of Celestial Being possesses ten GN Drives, compared to the main force using four, and Fereshte using one. The other nine were stored in the same base that LIASS was stored in, and were being used for research as well.

Right now, the three were watching the terrorist attack on the HRL's orbital elevator, with the Kyrios and Virtue intercepting them. That's when Hayden said, "The Kyrios and Virtue, piloted by Allelujah Haptism and Tieria Erde respectively. Hearing about Allelujah reminds me of what happened to you brother."

Alexi made no comment, though both he and Lia knew what Hayden was talking about: the Union's Synchro Soldier program. It was something that was done in secret by the Union seven years ago.

The Union's Synchro Soldier program was pretty much the mirror to the HRL's Super Soldier program, though there were a number of differences. The main objective of the Synchro Soldier program was to develop pilots that could literally link to their machines, which in short, made the pilot actually become the machine for a set period of time. It was a difficult process, and over the course of five years, results were actually produced, with the pilots coming out of the program being aces, even though the program was shut down six years later.

As to how this connected Alexi, well, after the accident that took their home seven years ago, the two twins were separated while trying to escape, and while Hayden managed to meet up with his mother and the other survivors, Alexi was left drifting in space in an escape pod. That's when a Union transport got a hold of him, and finding no information on him, it was decided for him to be put in the Synchro Soldier program, after he was convinced to join though. One thing that was peculiar about the program was that all of the subjects that were in the program were orphans that willing joined, as they had nowhere else to go, and back then Alexi convinced himself that he wasn't going to see his family ever again.

Memories of the times when he was in the Union's forces came back to Alexi, but he quickly pushed them away as he continued watching the monitors with Lia and Hayden. That's when Hayden said, "Uh Lia, remind me what kind of situation we are in again?"

At that, Lia just sighed and replied, "Well, as you know, the two of you are members of Celestial Being as Gundam Meisters, with me giving you your orders instead of VEDA. No one knows about us except Fereshte, and all the data concerning us isn't in VEDA, but in me instead. Unlike Fereshte, who supports Celestial Being from the shadows, we are mainly a reinforcement unit for Celestial Being; to be deployed and join up with the main group in the case that something unexpected happens that they need our additional support."

"To be honest, I'm not sure if two Gundams will make all the difference, especially those not equipped with GN Drives." Hayden said, with a bit of skepticism.

Alexi looked at his little brother and said, "That's why the two are equipped with both Phase Shift Armor and Mirage Colloid, as to give them an edge in battle."

A sigh came from Hayden as he said, "So, what the heck are we supposed to do? Just stay here in the Serenitatis and just wait?"

Lia looked at him oddly and said, "No, we're going to conduct our own operations, as well as making sure that the Gundam Meisters are up to snuff every now and again."

The twins looked at each other, wondering what Lia was talking about, but they let it go. In the past year that they knew her, Alexi and Hayden got used to her personality that was programmed into her. They did wonder why her creators gave her a personality at first, but they eventually warmed up to her.

"I wonder how Mom's doing…" Hayden wondered as he watched the operation at the HRL's orbital elevator being finished, with the Kyrios and Virtue retreating.

"I'm sure she's doing fine Hayden," Lia told him, "She's probably busy with the research back at the base on the moon."

"Our mother, Aleyris Sana, a second generation Gundam Meister…" Alexi murmured, giving a yawn.

Aleyris Sana, a thirty-four year old woman that's Alexi and Hayden's adoptive mother. A former second generation Gundam Meister that worked with Rudio, Marlene, Chall, and Hanayo, she now works at the hidden base on the moon where LIASS is located, working on various projects.

With both missions finished, Lia said, "Well, now we wait and see. Soon, the world will know about Celestial Being…"

"How are they going to know exactly?" Hayden asked, looking curious.

Alexi had a similar look on his face and Lia replied, "Don't worry about that, you'll see soon enough."

Suddenly, the door opened and three girls walked in. The three turned around and the lead girl came into their vision first, who had blue, waist-length hair and purple-red eyes. She was wearing a black sleeveless dress that had gold markings that went down to her knees, and underneath she wore a white dress, making it look like they were connected. The girl also had a black and white beret that had similar gold markings on the black part on top of her head to complete the image. She said, "The finishing touches on the GT Flags are done Lia."

Lia said, "That's good to hear Espgarude. Are they completely operational Neorith?"

The girl to Espgarude's left, who Lia referred to as Neorith, she had short pink hair that fanned out at the back, and a large fringe that nearly covered her right eye, which were a shade of dark blue. She was wearing what looked like a pink and white jumpsuit that was black around the limbs, and showed her shoulders, with a beige neck warmer. To top it off she had a burgundy bow tied into her hair on top that had a white rose design on it, which held up a part of her hair. She said, "That's what we've come here for Lia, we need Alexi and Hayden to see if they're working properly."

"I see, and is the GN Drive put away properly Lufione?" Lia asked.

The last girl, Lufione, had long blond hair that was on the pale side, with the edges of her short bangs being brown, and her eyes were a lime green which had a look like she was bored somewhat. She was wearing a dress that was green and white with a brown corset, along with a thin, long green ribbon that made her have a bit of a Lolita look, since she looked youngest of them. She had a black ribbon on her head that was close to her bangs, and wore brown gloves on her hands that made her look like she was handling things. She said, "It's been put away into storage, so there's no problem Lia."

"Alright, you two go with those three and go over those Flags. I'll call you back when that special event will happen." Lia ordered.

"Yes Lia." Alexi and Hayden replied. Espgarude said, "Okay you two, let's head to the hangar for the final checks."

As Lia watched Alexi and Hayden leave with Espgarude, Neorith, and Lufione, Lia whispered, "Thank goodness I decided to build those three, since we don't exactly have a crew for this ship…"

Espgarude, Neorith, and Lufione were androids that Lia had built, to accommodate for the lack of crew for the Serenitatis. They're hard to tell from regular humans on their outer appearance, and the fact that Lia gave them human personalities to supplement their AIs added to the illusion. The three are able to function as both operators and mechanics, and Lia also made a few more to act as agents, since her side of Celestial Being doesn't rely so much on VEDA for information. They cannot betray Celestial Being, because like Lia, they have a code built into them that prevents them from turning on the organization or it's ideals. On the off note, one could say that they're Lia's 'daughters' from a certain point of view, but thankfully that train of thought never surfaced.

Now Lia was alone on the bridge, and she thought, 'Currently processing information. Processing data about the beginning of Stage One of the plan. Continuing to observe and act when necessary.'

* * *

_Serenitatis – hangar_

A few hours have passed as Alexi and Hayden were busy fine tuning their GT Flags and making sure that everything was working as it should. The Flags looked like regular Union Flags on the outside, but the fact was that they were built using Celestial Being's technology, so they were pretty much Gundams in the form of Flags. The overall looks of the Flags were a bit different due to the technology, but other than that it was hard to tell the difference. The weapons the Flags had are the only major changes, with them having a beam rifle and beam sabers instead of their conventional weapons.

"Well, it looks like my Flag's completely operational," Hayden said with a smirk, "What about you Alexi?"

"…Everything's fine here." Alexi said, cracking his neck as he lay back in his seat.

"Okay you two, you can come out now." Espgarude told them.

Alexi and Hayden came out of their Flags and went down to where Espgarude was, where she was holding what looked like a laptop that was connected to Alexi's flag, which was jet black in color. Neorith was beside her, doing the same thing with Hayden's flag which happened to be a dark crimson as she said, "Well, it looks like the nuclear reactor's working fine here. How about you Espgarude?"

"This one's fine too. This Flag's ready to sortie anytime." Espgarude replied.

"Oh yeah, maybe now we'll finally get to see some action soon." Hayden said with enthusiasm.

Alexi had an indifferent look on his face as he looked around, noticing that Lufione was not around. He asked, "Espgarude, where's Lufione?"

"She's busy making sure the GN Drive we have is safely tucked away." Espgarude replied. She then told him, "Okay, your Flag's pretty much done now Alexi, but the Synchro option still has a number of bugs in it that I'm trying to work out. When you sortie, don't use it unless you absolutely have to, alright? I don't want to explain to Miss Aleyris and Lia how you got your brain fried thanks to that system."

"I won't use it Espgarude, so lock it down just in case." Alexi told her.

"Of course." Espgarude said, starting to type down a number of things on her laptop.

Suddenly, there was a crashing noise, making everyone look towards the source, and they saw Lufione walking out of one of the storage rooms, dust kicking up at the entrance. Lufione looked like she didn't care what just happened as she walked over to the group, holding something round in her hands.

They couldn't tell what Lufione was holding at first, but when she got closer, they recognized the object she was holding. Neorith was the first to ask, "Hey Lufione, where did you find that Haro?"

The Haro that was in Lufione's arms was silvery blue in color, and it looked like it wasn't functioning. Lufione said, "I found this Haro in a storage room, after I made sure that the GN Drive was secured. I don't think it's functioning at all."

"Well duh, if it was in storage, then it wouldn't be on in the first place." Neorith said, "Anyway, what should we do with it?"

"We'll bring it over to Lia; maybe she can do something with it." Espgarude replied.

Meanwhile, Hayden went over to his brother and asked, "How did a Haro get on board this ship in the first place. I thought the Serenity was cleared out of them for the Ptolemaios."

"…I don't know, maybe they missed one." Alexi said.

That's when Lia's voice came on the intercom saying, "Everyone, please come to the bridge. The unveiling is about to start."

"Well, I guess we'll bring the Haro with us. For all I know, we could use the additional help." Espgarude said to them.

All of them nodded and the five made their way to the bridge. On their way there, Alexi thought, 'So, today's the day Celestial Being make's it's presence known to the world. I wonder how the world will react…'

* * *

_Serenitatis – bridge_

When Alexi, Hayden, Espgarude, Neorith, and Lufione reached the bridge, Lia waved over to them, "Come over, the show's about to start."

"Pfft, it sounds like we're going to watch a cartoon or something." Hayden smirked.

Alexi just rolled his eyes as the five walked over to the front of the bridge. As they approached, Lia noticed the Haro in Lufione's arms and asked, "Oh, a Haro? How did that get here? I thought they were all sent to the Ptolemaios."

"I found it in a storage room." Lufione told Lia. She nodded and said, "Oh well, I'll deal with that later. Aeolia Schenberg's statement is about to be unveiled to the world."

A screen popped up, and Aeolia Schenberg appeared onscreen, sitting in a chair, over a rug that had Celestial Being's symbol on it. He said, "I would like to address this statement to every single human being born and raised on Earth."

"Wow, what an opening statement." Hayden said, and Lia made a shushing sound to keep him quiet.

"We call ourselves simply, Celestial Being. We are a private, armed organization in possession of the mobile weapon, Gundam.

"The main objective of Celestial Being's activities is to completely eliminate acts of war and conflict from this world. We do not act for our own benefit, or for personal gain. We have chosen to intervene for the greatest goal of all: to rid ourselves of the scourge of war.

"At this moment, I make the declaration to all of humanity. Territory, religion, energy, no matter what reason or excuse, if there is an evident act of war being carried out, we will commence intervention with armed force. Any country, organization, or corporation that promotes war, will also be a legitimate target for our intervention.

"We simply call ourselves, Celestial Being. We are an armed organization that was established to eliminate all acts of war from this world. I repeat…"

"So, thanks to this, the plan has officially started now…" Lia said.

Alexi and Hayden nodded at that, having unusually serious looks on their faces. Lia then continued to say, "I wonder how much the world's going to change now with Celestial Being in the picture…"

"The world will change no matter what happens now." Alexi murmured. Hayden looked at him oddly, but didn't say anything. That's when a message appeared on one of the monitors and Hayden went over to open it.

"What does it say?" Lia asked.

"It says that Fon Spark sortied in the Plutone. Um, should we do something about it Lia?" Hayden said.

"Leave him alone, he must've gotten permission from VEDA to sortie in it, so it's no big deal." Lia replied. She then sighed and said, "The Plutone huh…?"

Alexi and Hayden had a clue what Lia was referring to, since they heard about the incident from Aleyris a while back. They slightly shook their heads as Alexi asked, "Lia, will we be going on our own missions?"

"Yes, I have a few things lined up for the two of you myself, so be ready to sortie when I come up with the actual mission plans. You two can go rest in your rooms for now." Lia told them.

"Okay Lia." The twins said in unison. As they left, Espgarude said, "Well, I guess the three of us will go back to the hangar to do the final checks on the Flags, and to do some diagnostics on the Justice and Freedom."

"That's alright with me, but Lufione, could you stay here on the bridge and help me with a few things?" Lia asked.

All Lufione did was give a nod and both Espgarude and Neorith left the bridge, while Lufione took a seat at one of the stations and started working. Lia looked forward on the bridge, out to the scene of space and said, "Well, it looks like the plan starts now, though I do think we need to boost our number just a bit…"

With that, Lia went over to another station and started working on their group's mission plans, with Lia accessing VEDA every now and again. By the end of the day, both of them were done, and had proper plans to execute within a few days.

* * *

Well, here's a Gundam 00 story that's been going though my head for a while. If there is a story somewhat like this one, point me to it, and any similarities are plain coincidental. Also, Espgarude, Neorith, and Lufione are not mine, they are from a DS game called Spectral Force Genesis, so if you played that, you'd recognize them with a few changes. Anyway, there are going to be a few mobile suits from Gundam Seed, just because I am not a good mobile suit designer, as anyone could tell from my Gundam Seed Destiny fic. No characters from GS only just technology and a few other things.

**Edit: Made a few corrections in grammar that I missed, but nothings else has changed other than that.**


	2. Operation Angel Flag

Phase 02 – Operation Angel Flag

The Serenitatis, a battleship that was designed by Nathan and Natalie Kino, then built under Lia's orders one hundred and eighty years later. The name of the ship was actually 'Archangel', but Lia changed the name of the ship, something that would complement the name of Ptolemaios. This ship was armed with a variety of weapons, like the Lohengrin positron cannons, Gottfried beam cannons, Valiant rail cannons, and a number of other weapons to defend itself.

Being able the hold up to ten mobile suits, this ship is the base of operations for Lia's group. Now a few days after the announcement that revealed Celestial Being's existence to the world, their first secret mission would finally begin…

* * *

_Serenitatis – bridge_

"Alright boys, I've finally have your first mission planned out." Lia said, looking a bit smug for some reason.

Alexi and Hayden looked at each other, since seeing Lia looking smug was a bit odd to see. That's when a screen popped up, showing a picture of a familiar looking girl that had light brown hair, but had grayish brown eyes. Hayden couldn't tell the difference and asked, "Um Lia, why are you showing us a picture of Big Sis Chall when she was fifteen?"

Looking at his little brother, Alexi said, "I don't think that's Big Sis Chall, Hayden."

"He's right Hayden; this is actually her little sister, Serena Acustica." Lia told them.

Both Alexi and Hayden were quite surprised to hear that as the two studied the image. They saw that she did look like Chall fifteen years ago from a picture they saw back then, but Serena had her long hair in a ponytail, and the look on her face wasn't exactly a happy one. For one, the face she was making sort of reminded the twins of Marlene when they first met her.

After looking at the picture for a bit, Alexi asked, "So, what's the mission Lia?"

"Right, your first mission is to rescue her from this research facility that's located on this island," Lia typed in something on the control panel and a picture of the research facility shows up, along with a map, "This place is called the Bio-Soldier Research Facility, where they send hard-line criminals that were to be executed to be, well, 'Re-administered' as soldiers and sent back to their bloc's military where they came from. However, Serena was sent there by mistake six months ago and she's almost fully trained as a pilot in the place, and VEDA finds her scores to be quite impressive, despite the circumstances.

"There aren't many defenses, so the GT Flags will be able to mop up the area pretty quickly. The difficult part of this mission is the infiltration, since Intel suggests that Serena is being held on the top floor of the building." Lia told them

"You can't be serious," Hayden said with disbelief, "So, how do we get her out of there then?"

"First, the both of you will attack and destroy all of the base's initial defenses, including mobile suits. After that, you will stay in your Flag Hayden, and intercept any enemy forces that come to the facility's defense, while Alexi goes in and gets the girl out of there." Lia briefed them. Then she showed them a map of the facility and the route that Alexi should take and said, "This will be the route you'll be taking Alexi. There's no problem with it, right?"

"…It'll be just fine Lia." Alexi simply said, though he had a serious look on his face.

Hayden looked at him and asked, "You know, you don't look like a commando bro. How on earth are you going to pull it off by yourself?"

"I was trained back in the program for stuff like this. Piloting wasn't the only thing they taught me, and I doubt that there's going to be much resistance inside the facility anyway." Alexi told him, "Is that all Lia?"

Lia gave a nod and said, "That is all, and please don't get shot down. I don't want to tell your mother how either of you screwed up on your first mission."

Alexi just shook his head, while Hayden said, "Please Lia, you know that the two of us are professional pilots. Alexi from the Union, and me from the AEU thanks to your help, even though I didn't know it at the time."

"Yeah, you're right. I know that Aleyris asked me to place you in the AEU military a number of years ago, and managed to become an excellent pilot in the process…" Lia said, "Well, the two of you will start the mission soon, so the two of you are on standby in your Flags until we can get the shields working."

"Roger that Ma'am." The twins said simultaneously before leaving the bridge. Lia then looked back at Serena's picture and said, "Chall's little sister eh? I never heard about this from either Chall or Aleyris…oh well, it's not like it's any of my business."

* * *

_Serenitatis – hangar bay_

Alexi and Hayden's Flags were currently being equipped with re-entry shields that were Phase Shift-capable before they were going to launch. That's when Hayden asked, "So, how are we going to go to Earth without being detected? I mean, someone's going to notice two Flags entering the atmosphere you know."

"We're going to use Mirage Colloid during re-entry," Alexi replied, looking over a simulation, "Hopefully, whoever sees us will think it's just two pieces of metal falling down the atmosphere."

Hayden wondered about that, but thinking about it so much made his brain hurt and all he said was, "Well, I guess that's fine…"

That's when Espgarude said, "Okay you two, the shields have been installed, and just to let the two of you know, they're one time use, even with Phase Shift."

"Roger that Espgarude, Lia's just gave us the green light to head out." Alexi said with an air of professionalism.

"Boy, they sure must've drilled it into him back in the Union." The twins heard Neorith comment. Espgarude said, "Oh be quiet Neorith, it's not his fault."

The twins switched off their communications as they saw Espgarude and Neorith walk away and leave the hangar. A moment later, Lufione's face appeared on their monitors and she said, "Preparing launch procedures now."

The two Flags were loaded onto the catapult and then Lufione said, "GT Flags are loaded onto Catapults One and Two. Alexi, Hayden, both of you are clear to launch, and good luck out there."

"Thanks Lufione." The twins said at the same time. Then Alexi said, "Alexi Sana, Flag heading out!"

Alexi's Flag went out and then Hayden said, "Hayden Sana, Flag launching!"

The second Flag came out of the Serenitatis' hangar and then both Flags turned into their respective colors thanks to their Phase Shift Armor, with Alexi's turning jet black, while Hayden's turning crimson red. Both Flags started to head for Earth and all Lia could hope was that things would work out as planned.

* * *

_Middle of the Indian Ocean – enroute to Bio-Soldier Research Facility_

The reentry process went off without a hitch, and thanks to the Mirage Colloid, those that saw it figured that it was just debris falling into the atmosphere, and since they were falling towards the middle of the Indian Ocean, they couldn't care less. Alexi and Hayden found the process to be a bit hot and uncomfortable, but other than that, they were fine, thanks to their cockpits' enhanced coolers for re-entry. Now they were on their way to the Bio-Soldier Facility still under Mirage Colloid, and as they flew in fighter mode Hayden asked, "I forgot to ask, but is there any details about the actual defenses this facility has?"

"I don't think so," Alexi replied, "Lia didn't mention anything about it, but since it's a secret facility, I don't think it's going to be serious enough to go all out."

That's when the facility started to appear as they approached, and Alexi brought out the map one more time to give it a quick look and memorize it. As they got closer to the facility, both Flags changed to their mobile suit forms as Alexi said, "Time to raise some hell…"

"You said it bro!" Hayden shouted as both mobile suits dropped Mirage Colloid and blasted towards the facility full throttle.

* * *

_Bio-Soldier Research Facility – lab room_

A girl with long, light brown hair and grey eyes, wearing a patient's gown was sitting in the middle of a room with a device attached to her head. She thought to herself, 'So, those bastards are going to manipulate my memories now…'

The girl's name is Serena Acustica, and she was an unlucky girl to be sent to the Bio-Soldier Research Facility. She was a seventeen year old girl that was accused of stealing and was going to be sent to jail for a month, but someone messed up and she was sent to this facility instead. For six months she was undergoing harsh training and slight augmentation to become a pilot for the AEU, and it made her quite angry on the inside.

Now Serena was under a sedative that kept her conscious so that she wouldn't try to fight against the operation. All she could do was look at the scientists with angry eyes as she thought, 'First my sister disappears for no good reason, then my parents die, and then this… Pfft, maybe they'll make me forget about them…'

A scientist working at one of the terminals asked, "Is the procedure ready?"

"Just a few more minutes…" Another scientist replied, as he typed in a number of commands.

'Just great, a few more minutes until my personality gets rewritten… Oh, what I wouldn't give to break free and kill these bastards…' Serena thought with a bit of relish.

Serena tried to struggle against the restraints on her, but the sedatives were too potent and she gave up thinking, 'Maybe I should pray to God for a miracle to occur…'

Suddenly, there were a number of explosions from the outside, and the building shook a bit from that. Serena raised an eyebrow, while the scientists in the room were alarmed as one of them contacted the observation crew and asked, "What the heck was that?"

"We're being attacked by-! *bzzt*" One of the observation crew said before contact was suddenly cut.

"Damn, is it that Celestial Being that we've heard about?" One of the scientists asked as he banged his hand on the terminal he was at.

The other scientist said, "If that's the case, then their goal must be the destruction of the facility. We'd better get out of here now!"

The two scientists were about to leave when one asked, "What about the girl?"

"Just leave her there." The other scientist replied, before the two of them left the lab room.

Serena couldn't believe it and started to desperately try to break free from her restraints thinking, 'Damn, if I somehow manage to survive this, I'm gonna kill those bastards!'

* * *

_Bio-Soldier Research Facility – outside_

"Looks like we've managed to wipe out the defenses here." Alexi said as he shot an incoming Realdo through the cockpit, destroying it.

"Man, this looks like what would happen if the three blocs would be working together." Hayden commented as his Flag sliced through a Hellion that tried to shoot at him, "Talk about a mix of mobile suits."

A number of Tierens were firing at them from the ground and Hayden said, "I'll clear a path so you can get to the facility, alright Alexi?"

"Roger that Hayden." Alexi said with a nod.

The two Flags got into formation and Hayden took out his beam rifle and started taking down the Tierens one by one, as well as any airborne mobile suits that got in the way. Soon, Alexi reached the top of the facility and managed to disembark from his Flag, with Hayden providing cover fire saying, "You'd better hurry, cause I'm not sure if this is all of them bro!"

"I understand." Alexi said, as he took out a rifle he brought with him and went inside the Facility.

* * *

_Bio-Soldier Research Facility – lab room_

The explosions grew numerous as Serena continued to struggle against the restraints she had on her. That's when she heard a number of gunshots and thought, 'What the heck was that?'

Suddenly, the door opened and Alexi walked in with his rifle. At seeing the weapon in his hands, Serena instantly thought that the person in the masked pilot suit was here to kill her. Much to her surprise though, Alexi approached her and asked, "Are you Serena Acustica?"

All Serena could do was nod as Alexi started to release Serena from her restraints. When Alexi took off the device on her head, she struggled to ask, "W-who…are you?"

"I'll tell you later, first we need to get out of here. Can you stand?" Alexi asked. Serena tried to get up but the sedatives were still in her and she could barely move. Seeing this, Alexi turned around and showed his back to her saying, "Get on, I'll carry you out of here."

Serena wanted to protest, but she didn't have much of a choice due to the sedatives, so she somehow managed to climb onto Alexi's back and he carried her out of the room. She tried her hardest to hold on, since Alexi still had his rifle in his hands, alert for anymore security.

The two passed by bodies that Alexi had shot down trying to get to her. Then Serena saw the bodies of the two scientists lying down dead on the ground, looking like they were caught in the crossfire. She thought, 'Serves them right…' as they kept on going.

That's when Serena noticed that they were heading upwards instead of downwards and she asked, "Why…are we going…up…?"

"Because my machine is up there waiting for us, as well as my brother." Alexi simply replied as he kept running.

Serena was confused by all of this, and she slipped into unconscious due to the sedatives in her body. Alexi hurried it up after feeling that Serena had fainted on his back.

* * *

_Bio-Soldier Research Facility – outside_

Hayden was starting to get irritated as a few more Hellions and Realdos came out of nowhere and fired upon him, making Hayden fire back in response. After destroying them, he muttered, "Shoot, where the heck are all of these guys coming from?"

That's when Alexi reappeared onscreen in Hayden's cockpit, also showing Serena tucked away behind him unconscious. As the jet black Flag reactivated itself, Alexi said, "Lia's just sent word to completely destroy the facility and all remaining defending forces Hayden. We can't leave anyone alive…"

"Roger that, and is the girl okay by the way?" Hayden asked as his Flag took out a beam saber and sliced a Hellion in half.

"Yeah, she's just unconscious." Alexi replied, aiming his rifle at the facility. Firing on it, the beams pierced through the building, and one managed to hit it's power source, causing a chain reaction and an explosion soon after, engulfing the building. After that, taking care of the remaining forces was a snap, and even Hayden found the hangar bay were the mobile suits were coming out of, taking care of that with a few shots.

Flying away from the now destroyed facility, Alexi made a quick check to see if Serena was conscious yet. When he saw that she was still out of it, Alexi focused on the piloting as his and Hayden's Flags went under Mirage Colloid, heading towards the rendezvous point. As they were flying Hayden appeared on Alexi's monitor and asked, "So how's the little sister doing?"

"She's still unconscious, but other than that she's fine." Alexi replied, "We'll contact Lia about the mission success when we reach the target point."

"Roger that." Hayden said before he signed off. Alexi sighed as he took one last look at the burning facility before turning his attention to flying. Hayden did it too and whispered, "Thank goodness that that's gone now…"

* * *

_Serenitatis – bridge_

Lia was looking at a few screens of information when a piece of news popped up on one of the screens. Looking at it, it was from the observation probe that Lia deployed to watch over Alexi and Hayden. It read that the mission was successful, and that both Flags are heading towards the rendezvous point. Lufione was on the bridge too and she saw the message that came from the probe too. She said, "So, they've completed their first mission. As expected of those two, and I'm sure that they've managed to secure that Serena girl too."

"They've must've, because they're supposed to blow up the entire facility after rescuing her." Lia said, closing the message, "Soon they'll report in, and I'm sure there's going to be good news."

That's when Espgarude and Neorith came in with Neorith holding the silver blue Haro, with Neorith saying, "There's something wrong with this Haro, Lia. It won't activate for some reason."

"Really? That's weird, I'll take a look at it later then." Lia replied. She gave the order for Espgarude and Neorith to activate the Haro, but found it odd that it won't start up. Neorith nodded and placed the dead Haro on one of the seats on the bridge.

After that was done, Espgarude asked, "So, did those two complete the mission already?"

"Yes, and I'd like you and Neorith to prepare a room for our new Gundam Meister." Lia said with a smile.

Both Espgarude and Neorith looked at her for a moment before Neorith said, "As you command Lia."

When the two girls left the bridge, Lufione went back to work while Lia said, "I wonder what this Serena person is going to be like… If she's Chall's little sister, then I wonder if she's going to be a bit like her…"

* * *

_Ptolemaios – bridge_

Sumeragi Lee Noriega was currently on the bridge, along with Feldt Grace and Christina Sierra. The mission in Ceylon was just finished when a message popped up on her monitor. Looking closely, she saw that it was from VEDA and she opened it in an instant. To her surprise, it was a message saying that the Bio-Soldier Research Facility was completely destroyed. Christina noticed Sumeragi's surprised expression and asked, "Miss Sumeragi, is there something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing." Sumeragi replied, shaking her head. She then thought, 'Weird, how did this happen? That place was the next target after Ceylon… Oh well, as long as it's destroyed, I guess it's not a big deal…'

Feldt looked at Sumeragi, wondering what was going on with her before she got back to work. Before she started thought, she clutched the emerald flower pendant that was hidden underneath her clothes. Her memories were quite blurry as the years passed, and all she remembered was that a precious friend of hers gave it to her before she was pushed into an escape shuttle. She couldn't even remember the face or name of the friend, and that was something that troubled her a bit.

Sumeragi noticed Feldt's expression and asked, "Is there something the matter Feldt?"

Snapping out of it, Feldt replied, "Uh, no Miss Sumeragi. I'll get back to work."

As Feldt quickly went back to work Sumeragi thought, 'The plan's just started, and there's already a few odd things happening. As long as it doesn't endanger the Plan overall, then it doesn't matter I guess…'

* * *

_Indian Ocean – uninhabited island_

The two Flags were powered down and in a kneeling position as Alexi and Hayden were beside Serena, who was lying down on the ground and was coming too thanks to the sedatives in her body wearing off. When Serena started to wake up, Alexi and Hayden had changed into their regular clothes. When she opened her eyes, she said, "Wh-where am I…?"

She slowly got up and still found her body to be a bit sore, and Hayden said, "Whoa Miss Serena, you're still a bit weak from whatever they did to you, so don't strain yourself."

Serena blinked and saw Alexi and Hayden in her vision, then she asked, "What the…who are you two?"

Alexi helped Serena sit up straight as he said, "I'm Alexi Sana, and he's my twin brother Hayden Sana. We're from Celestial Being."

"Celestial…Being…? Wasn't that the group…who just announced their existence about eradicating war?" Serena squinted at the two Flags that were kneeled down and asked, "I heard that Celestial Being uses…these mobile suits called Gundams. If that's the case…then why the two of you are piloting Flags?"

"That's…complicated," Hayden replied. Alexi looked at him a bit oddly while Serena said with a sneer, "Well, it doesn't matter, at least you two gave those bastards what they deserved at least."

Hearing the hatred in Serena's voice, Alexi figured that it was now time to contact Lia. He said to Hayden, "I'll contact Lia for the debriefing and further orders, so watch over Serena, Hayden."

"Fine." Hayden simply replied. As Alexi walked away Serena asked, "Who's Lia?"

"She's our boss, so to speak. She gives us our orders." Hayden told her. Serena looked at him as she continued to ask him a number of questions.

Meanwhile, Alexi managed to get in contact with Lia, and when her face appeared on his communicator, she said, "So, mission complete?"

"Yes Lia, we've rescued Serena and destroyed the facility." Alexi reported. Lia gave a nod and asked, "Is she well?"

"Serena was put under what we suspect were potent sedatives, but they've worn off now, and she's conscious too. She's currently asking Hayden things about Celestial Being." Alexi replied, giving a glance over to the two. For some reason, Serena seemed to be a bit angry, which puzzled him as he turned his attention back to Lia.

"So…what do we do now Lia?" Alexi asked, waiting for more orders.

Lia gave a nod and said, "Right, the two of you will head to the AEU's orbital elevator there, and we'll link up once you're all back in space. I've already made arrangements for you beforehand so-."

"What do you mean she's still alive?" Serena suddenly shouted, interrupting Lia's speech. Alexi looked around to see Serena full blown mad, and Hayden was trying to calm her down without much luck. He heard Hayden say, "Uh…well…"

"Okay Lia, I understand. We'll proceed to the AEU's orbital elevator and make our way back to space. We'll contact you again once we reach space." Alexi said before he turned off the communicator. Then he made his way over to where Serena and Hayden were and asked, "What's going on?"

Serena turned onto Alexi and she had a pissed look on her face as she said, "This guy said that my sister Chall is still alive! Care to explain that?"

Looking at Hayden, Alexi saw that he looked a bit caught off guard by Serena's anger. Then Alexi calmly replied, "She's a member of Celestial Being, and she's in charge of her own division. I can't say anything more than that, so you'll have to ask Lia all about it when we get back up into space."

Hearing that threw Serena off as her anger was replaced by confusion, then she asked, "Why are we going into space?"

"It's because our ship is up there." Hayden told her, having regained his composure. Serena looked at the two of them, and then said, "Well, anywhere is better than here I guess…"

Serena tried to get up onto her feet, and found that the sedatives were completely gone. Standing upright, she made her way over to Alexi's Flag and shouted with a hint of annoyance, "Well c'mon, let's get moving already!"

The twins looked at each other and thought simultaneously, 'What did Lia get us into?' They both sighed before the headed over to their machines, and climbed up to their open cockpits.

As Hayden climbed into his, Alexi was about to go in when he remembered something and said, "Serena, you'd better get changed into some better clothes. There's something for you in one of the cockpit's compartments."

"Right." Serena said simply. As she found the compartment with the clothes, Alexi pressed something in his ear and said, "Disengaging G.U.N.D.A.M. System Repose lock, passing priority to Alexi Sana. Close cockpit hatch and disable all communications except contact with me."

The cockpit hatch closed on Alexi's command, surprising Serena. Then Alexi added, "Tell me when you're done Serena. The Flag has a biometric lock on it so only I can pilot it, just to let you know."

"Sure." Serena answered curtly. There was a rustling of clothes as Hayden called to him saying, "Did you really need to tell her that bro?"

"She might've tried to open the cockpit herself to let me in, and the cockpits are different from regular Flags." Alexi replied. Then Serena's voice said, "I'm done changing."

"Alright," Alexi said, "Open cockpit hatch and startup all systems." The cockpit opened and Alexi hopped in to see Serena in a simple white shirt and jeans behind the pilot seat. Hopping in, the two Flags started up and they took off, changing to Flight Mode and their Mirage Colloid activating, heading towards the AEU's African tower.

* * *

_Serenitatis – hangar_

The trip back up into space was calm to say the least. Serena was quiet, but seemed to be in an irritated mood for some reason. Alexi and Hayden got the sign that they should keep to themselves for the time being, and only spoke to her when they needed too. Eventually they got up into space the same way the Gundam Meisters do and soon, they were back in the Flags in their pilot suits, and Serena in a regular Celestial Being suit, heading towards the Serenitatis that was still under Mirage Colloid. They only managed to dock after seeing both hangar bay doors open, making the openings look odd.

When they were inside, the three of them found Lia, Espgarude, Neorith, and Lufione waiting for them. The three of them departed from the Flags and the first thing Lia said was, "Welcome back you two, and welcome to the Serenitatis, Miss Serena Acustica."

Serena was surprised to see the four girls standing before him as Hayden said, "We're back from our mission Lia."

Seeing Lia being addressed, Serena said, "What? This little girl is your boss?"

"There's more to her than that." Alexi told her, "The four girls before you are actually androids with human AIs, with Lia being the other three's creator."

There was dumbfounded look on her face as Serena said, "So let me get this straight, the four of you are androids? That's hard to believe…"

"It's true, and by the way, I'm Espgarude." Espgarude said, introducing herself.

"Neorith, it's nice to meet you Serena." Neorith spoke up.

"Lufione, pleasure to meet you." Lufione said lastly with a bow.

"And I'm Lia, the overall commander of this part of Celestial Being." Lia said with a nod and a smile.

Serena took the time to remember the names when she said, "What? What do you mean, 'this side' of Celestial Being? And what about my sister Chall, how does she fit into all of this?"

Everyone could see that Serena was starting to get angry again after mentioning Chall's name, and Lia said, "Why don't we go someplace more comfortable. There I'll answer all your questions."

Serena seemed to agree with the idea and said in a controlled voice, "Please, lead the way Miss Lia."

Lia smiled and held out an arm saying, "This way please."

As Serena followed Lia and the others, Alexi and Hayden trailed behind with Hayden saying, "Don't you think you find Lia's polite attitude a bit weird?"

"I think Lia acting like she's PMSing is weird." Alexi whispered calmly, making Hayden fall into a fit of giggles before stopping when everyone looked at him. He coughed, and they continued to follow until they reached the Serenitatis' tactical room.

* * *

_Serenitatis – tactical room_

After Lia explained what Celestial Being was all about in detail, which didn't sound that different from Aeolia Schenberg's speech, Lia then said, "Well, that in all, what I want to ask you is, will you be willing to become a Gundam Meister for Celestial Being?"

The others were in the room also, listening to the conversation as they all sat around a table, while Serena thought about it before asking, "What if I refuse your offer?"

"Then I'll send you to our base on the moon to help out there. I can send you back to Earth for obvious reasons, so that would be the only option left for us." Lia told her.

Everyone could see that Serena was pissed off about that, but then she took a deep breath, then said, "Well, then I guess I don't have much of a choice but to agree to become a Gundam Meister. Anyway, this idea of eliminating war sounds interesting, so I'll stick around to see what happens."

Lia and the others seemed glad to hear Serena's decision when her attitude turned back into an angry one as she hissed, "Right now though, I want you to tell me everything you know about my _sister_."

Hearing the emphasis on the word sister, Alexi and Hayden took that chance to leave the room with Espgarude and the other girls, with Alexi saying, "In that case, Hayden and I will check up on our Flags with the girls, since you know all about Big Sis Chall, Lia."

Seeing everyone leave the room, Lia couldn't help but think, 'Damn Alexi and his smooth talking.' Serena looked at her with a piercing look as she added, "By the way, tell me why those twins call her 'Big Sis' while you're at it too."

'Sometimes, I wonder why my creators gave me a human personality…' Lia thought to herself, before she explained everything to Serena.

Outside, the others were walking to the hangar when Hayden asked, "You sure that Lia's going to be fine?"

"Lia's our boss, and is on par with VEDA. I'm sure that she'll be able to handle it." Alexi said in monotone. The three girls looked at each other but said nothing as everyone swore that they heard a loud bang and a cracking noise just then. They all just figured that it was a simple malfunction in their hearing systems and continued to follow the Sana twins to the hangar.

* * *

Here's the second one, and I must admit, my original plan for this story didn't have me adding more Gundam Meisters to the roster, or even the Spectral Force Genesis girls either. It was just going to be just the Sana twins and Lia, starting the story around episode 16 or something. Scratched that idea and even created an OC as Chall Acustica's little sister too. Oh and a thank you to animefan29 for your review, it brought up a few things that I haven't thought about, and managed to do something about it. I hope everyone will look forward to seeing how exactly I dealt with the issue in future chapters and until the next chapter, see ya!


	3. Bad Blood

Phase 03 – Bad Blood

Fereshte, a spin off organization of Celestial Being created by Chall Acustica with the permission of VEDA, this organization supports Celestial Being from the shadows. Oddly enough though, the only people to know about the organization are a few members of the Ptolemaios, and Lia's side of Celestial Being.

Both Fereshte and Lia's group have known about each other for the past year, with Aleyris Sana acting like a liaison between the two groups most of the time. It's safe to say that Chall and the others were surprised by Lia's existence, but Chall was especially surprised to hear that Alexi and Hayden became Gundam Meisters just like she and Aleyris did.

With their ship, the Euclides, currently in dock at Celestial Being's main base at all times, the only way that the organization operates is by sending out their Gundams to the surface to carry out their operations. Now Chall's world is going to be rocked, once she finds out that her sister, who she hadn't heard of in a long time, joined Celestial Being too…

* * *

_Euclides – bridge_

On the main screen, a woman with long, blackish blue hair and purple eyes, wearing what looked like a modified Union uniform, was talking to someone who was alone on the bridge. She said, "It's been too long Chall… I've missed you, ya know."

Chall Acustica, the leader of Fereshte, smiled and replied, "Me too Aleyris, but I doubt you called me just to tell me something like that."

Aleyris Sana said, "Yeah, you're right. I got a call from Lia a while back, and she had some interesting things to say."

Raising an eyebrow, Chall asked, "And what would that be?"

A thin smile appeared on Aleyris' lips as she said, "Well, for starters, do you happen to have a younger sister?"

That question threw Chall off, since she wasn't expecting something like that. She replied with her own question, "How do you know that Aleyris?"

Aleyris gave a sigh and said, "I take it that you haven't been keeping tabs on her either. Well, Lia called me to setup a meeting between her group and Fereshte's for a certain reason. She also sent me this to show you."

On screen, Aleyris typed in a few things and a moment later, a file appeared on Chall's screen. She was shocked to see a profile of Serena and the news that she was a detained at the Bio-Soldier Research Facility. Chall suddenly grew worried, since she also heard of the news from VEDA that the facility had been destroyed, but wondered at the time why VEDA would send that kind of news to her. She then asked, "I-is my little sister alive?"

"She's fine, and she's actually the reason that Lia wants to setup a meeting," Aleyris told her, "Apparently, the first mission that my sons went on was to rescue her from the facility before destroying it. She's been scouted to be a Gundam Meister, just like how you were."

Hearing that, Chall looked at Serena's picture, and saw that she looked just like her when she was younger before the incident, except that her eyes were a different color and her hair was in a ponytail like hers. That's when Chall's memories started to come back to her, and the overwhelming number of memories caused her to faint on the spot.

Aleyris blinked before she called out, "Chall? Hey Chall! C'mon, don't faint on me here! Chall!"

* * *

_Serenitatis – bridge_

Serena, in a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, with her hair back in it's ponytail, was with Lia, who was explaining the various duties on the Serenitatis to her. It was obvious to Lia that Serena was still angry about something, most likely it was about Chall. There was something there that Serena didn't like, but Lia wasn't the one to pry so she left it alone for now.

That's when a coded message appeared on one of the screens and was beeping. Both of them went over as Lia opened the message and decoded it when the reached the terminal. Seeing that it was from Aleyris with a reply, Lia said, "Well, it looks like your sister and her crew are coming over to greet us after all. I'm sure that you have some choice words for her Serena."

There was an odd smile on Serena's face as she said, "Yes…and thank you for the opportunity Lia. By the way, since I'm a Gundam Meister now, do I get a personal Gundam, or am I a backup pilot for either Alexi or Hayden?"

"Oh, don't worry about that, you'll get your own personal Gundam. It's being rebuilt as we speak, and someone will send it over to us in a few days." Lia told her.

Serena found that to be interesting and she kept her mouth shut. On the other hand, she still had pent up anger inside her that she found hard to keep down, and her hands shook every now and again. She thought, '…Why did you leave us sis…?'

Then Neorith entered the bridge and when the two looked at her, she asked, "Hey, is Serena available Lia?"

"What is it?" Lia asked, while Serena looked curious. Neorith replied, "Alexi and Hayden just finished training in the Freedom and Justice, and they were wondering if Serena wanted a go as a warm up of sorts."

"I'll do it." Serena said before Lia could open her mouth. Lia looked at her for a second before she turned to Neorith and nodded. Neorith gave a nod in return and said, "Okay then, let's head to the hangar Serena."

As Neorith and Serena left the bridge, Lia went over to the terminal where the message was showing onscreen. She continued reading it and it showed that the ZGMFS-X12A Testament was going to be ready within a few days, along with the additional armaments for it, as well as a few things for the Flags. Closing it, she sighed and said, "Things sure are going to get busy around here. Look at me, I'm an AI and I'm talking to myself…"

That's when both Alexi and Hayden appeared on the monitors, contacting her from the Freedom and Justice's cockpits. Alexi said, "So, is Serena coming down now?"

"Yes, but I doubt that it's the reason both of you are contacting me now." Lia replied with a hint of a smile.

"Uh, yeah…actually Alexi and I went over the Bio-Soldier mission data a while ago, and we noticed that you never actually mentioned in detail about the base's defenses in the mission briefing. Have an explanation for that?" Hayden asked with a certain look.

Alexi just had a stoic look on his face, but Lia could tell he was looking for answers too. She replied, "It's simple, it was mostly a test."

"A test?" The twins said simultaneously. Lia nodded and said, "Even though I can give you an overall tactical plan, there will always be uncertain variables, due to limiting my access to VEDA among other things. I need the two of you to be on your toes at all times during our operations. I planned to do the same for Serena, but with the plan going on, I'm reconsidering it for now."

The Sana twins gave Lia odd looks, and she noticed saying, "Aw c'mon, you two can be considered special!"

Both of them shook their heads as Alexi said with a hint of sarcasm, "Yeah, special…"

As the two cut contact, Lia just sighed and continued preparing for Fereshte's arrival.

* * *

_Transport Shuttle – enroute to Serenitatis' current location_

The next day, all of the Fereshte members were on the shuttle, with the Astraea stored within it inside a container. The shuttle was on loan from Lia and was currently using Mirage Colloid to hide itself as it traveled. The reason for this was because Chall had decided that they were going to use the Serenitatis as a temporary base of operations for it's next few operations while they're visiting, hence brining the Astraea along. Their ship was on total shutdown in the meantime, so they could bring everyone along.

Fon Spark and Chall were alone in the cockpit compartment, with Fon busy looking at something onscreen when he asked, "Hey Chall, why the hell do all of us have to come with you? Isn't this some kind of courtesy visit?"

"It's nothing like that Fon. I've received permission from VEDA and Lia to use the Serenitatis to carry out a few of our operations during our visit, so I think that a change of scenery would be nice." Chall told him.

"Then what's this I hear about your little sister being on that ship?" Fon asked her, looking amused for some reason.

Chall looked a bit surprised that Fon knew about it, especially since she didn't tell anyone else in Fereshte about it. She said, "How do you know about that?"

"Gyahahaha! That Aleryis person told me about her, Serena was it? Oh, and it's not a good idea to faint on the bridge Miss Fereshte Commander!" Fon said with a smirk.

A slight blush appeared on Chall's face when Eco Calore and Sherilyn Hyde entered, with Sherilyn carrying Hanayo in her arms. She said, "Well, the Astraea's systems are good to go, so it can be deployed anytime."

"Anytime! Anytime!" Hanayo chirped. Then Eco asked, "So, is there any reason that we're going to meet up with Lia and the others?"

Fon was about to say something, when Chall gave him a look that somehow kept his mouth shut. Then she replied, "It seems that Lia's acquired another Gundam Meister a few days ago, and she's called us over to give her an inspection of sorts."

A small smirk formed on Fon's lips, while Sherilyn said, "Well, at least we'll be able to see Alexi and Hayden again."

Chall couldn't help but crack a small smile at that. Sort of like Feldt, Chall was close with Alexi and Hayden, and with them becoming Gundam Meisters like her and Aleyris, she couldn't help but worry about them a bit. That's when Hanayo said, "Approaching Serenity, approaching Serenity!"

Since the Serenitatis was under Mirage Colloid most of the time, it was hard to figure out where the ship was, until it's hangar door opened. Hanayo was attached to the control panel and she said, "Initiating docking, initiating docking!"

The shuttle was making docking procedures with the Serenitatis as Chall whispered to herself, "Well, it's time to see her after all this time…"

* * *

_Serenitatis – Serena's room_

Neorith and Lufione were with Serena in her room, and the three were up to something with Serena getting changed and styling her hair in a certain way, though it wasn't really necessary. Neorith asked, "Are you sure that you want to meet Chall looking like this?"

"Well, I haven't seen her for most of my life, so why not give her a shock?" Serena replied, sounding a bit sadistic.

Lufione said, "I must say, this uniform does look like you Serena."

"Guh, I still can't believe my sister used to wear this…" Serena said, looking at the uniform she had on right now in a mirror, "I bet she thought it was cute on her back then."

Then Lia contacted the three saying, "Fereshte's crew has just arrived in the hangar, so why don't you wait for them in the tactical room Serena?"

"That sounds like a great idea Lia." Serena said, before the communication was cut. Then she said, "Well, I guess it's time to give my sister Chall a grand awakening, fufufu…"

* * *

_Serenitatis – hangar_

After the shuttle was brought in, the Astraea was being unloaded in the hangar, and the Fereshte crew was disembarking, only to see Alexi, Hayden, and Espgarude waiting for them. Chall was the last one to get out, and when she saw the twins, she went over to them and gave a smile saying, "Alexi, Hayden, it's been a while."

"It sure has, Big Sis Chall." Hayden said with a smile. Alexi had a smile on his face too as the three of them got into a group hug for a moment, slightly surprising Chall's crew, though Fon did have an odd look on his face.

After the three parted, Sherilyn went up to them and said, "Oh, it's been so long Alexi, Hayden!"

Sherilyn gave Hayden a big hug, making him say, "Umph, yeah, we're glad to see you too Sheri."

Alexi gave a nod as Sherilyn gave him a hug too. Then she looked over to see the Justice, Freedom, and the two Flags and said, "Wow, you guys have four mobile suits already, but what's with the Flags?"

"We use them in our operations instead of the Gundams. Secrecy and all, according to Lia." Hayden replied.

That's when the Fereshte group took a closer look at Espgarude, and didn't recognize her. Chall asked, "And who might you be?"

Espgarude bowed and said, "I'm Espgarude, an android that Lia made to help with the running of the Serenitatis."

Everyone raised an eyebrow at that, but knowing that Celestial Being's technology was quite advanced, as well as Lia's story, they didn't say anything about it. Espgarude continued to say, "There are two others like me, a pink haired girl named Neorith, and a blond named Lufione. You'll probably see the two of them later."

Chall nodded as Fon took a look at the Justice and Freedom saying, "Wow, those are some interesting looking Gundams. Though it looks like they don't have GN Drives…"

"It's because they don't use them," Hayden replied, "Despite their complete overhauls, the Justice and Freedom are powered by nuclear reactors."

That's surprised them as Eco said, "Nuclear reactors? Isn't that dangerous?"

"They're completely stable, and they have been upgraded from their previous state too, so there's little chance of a meltdown while in operation." Espgarude told them.

Chall was about to say something when Fon laughed and said, "Now that's pretty gutsy, for a Gundam to be powered by nuclear energy. Whoever designed them must've been pretty nuts!"

"If you want, you can ask Lia all about it…Fon Spark, right?" Espgarude said. When the Fereshte crew looked at her in surprise, Espgarude said, "Lia has Fereshte's crew roster on hand, and that the data was downloaded into us after our construction."

Then Espgarude pointed to each member as she said, "Fon Spark, Chall Acustica, Eco Calore, Sherilyn Hyde, and Hanayo. Though only Fon and Eco go by codenames which we don't know, that's everyone in Fereshte."

"…Lia's quite well informed for someone who limits her access to VEDA." Chall commented. Espgarude just nodded and said, "Well, for now, let's get going, so you can see our new Gundam Meister for yourselves."

A simple nod came from Chall, and everyone was about to follow when Sherilyn said, "Excuse me, but you don't mind if I stay here? I want to take a look at those Gundams for a bit."

"Don't worry, Hayden and I will stay behind to watch her." Alexi told Espgarude. Hayden gave a nod in agreement, while Sherilyn pouted saying, "I'm not a little kid!"

"Not a little kid! Not a little kid!" Hanayo said in her Haro voice.

"We know, but you shouldn't be by yourself in the hangar." Hayden told her. Espgarude nodded saying, "Alright, I'll inform Lia later."

As Espgarude left with Chall, Fon, and Eco, Sherilyn made a beeline towards the Justice and Freedom saying, "I bet their systems are totally different!"

"Hey, wait for us!" Hayden shouted, running after Sherilyn. Alexi just sighed and gave a small smile before going after the two.

* * *

_Serenitatis – tactical room_

When Espgarude and the others reached the tactical room, they found Lia, Neorith, and Lufione waiting outside the door. The three looked at them and Lia said, "Ah Chall, it's good to see you."

"You too Lia, and I must say that it was quite a surprise to hear from Aleyris about _her_." Chall said with a weak smile.

Both Fon and Eco looked at Lia with a bit of a disbelieving look. They've heard about her of course, but they've actually never seen her before, so they were surprised by her current appearance. Fon said, "You're joking right? This little girl is Lia, the leader of this group?"

There was a slightly annoyed look on Lia's face as she said, "I'll have you know I only look like a twelve year old girl. I'm actually an android extension that I don't want to explain right now. I'm sure Chall can fill the both of you in on the details later."

There was a moment of silence before Lia opened the door saying, "Well, please come on in. Our new Gundam Meister is waiting."

Suddenly, Chall became very nervous but Fon pushed her saying, "Jeez, it's not like she's gonna kill you the moment you enter Chall."

Lia raised an eyebrow as she and the others went inside. When they were all in the room, Chall, Fon, and Eco saw Serena standing before them, but with her back turned. Chall looked shocked, making Eco ask, "Chall? What's wrong?"

That's when Serena turned around, and Fon raised an eyebrow, since he had the courtesy of seeing Chall's picture from before the Plutone incident thanks to Aleyris, and saw that Serena looked exactly like her, despite the eye color difference. Chall however, turned a pale color as the memories started flowing back, making her look away.

Serena seemed to like the way her current look was having an effect on Chall as she had a smile on her face, though a part of her wondered what the heck happened to her, seeing her white hair and the scar on the side of her face. That's when Fon said, "The heck is with that getup? You trying to freak Chall out or something?"

The look on Serena's face vanished in an instant as she said, "Tch, who the hell are you?"

"Whoa, now that's one feisty girl! She's practically different from you Chall, quite the difference! Gyahahaha!" Fon commented with a laugh.

Chall had somehow managed to regain her composure, while Serena ignored Fon and walked up to Chall. When Serena was right in front of her, she said in an oddly icy tone, "It's been a while, hasn't it Sis?"

A shiver went down Chall's spine at the tone of Serena's voice, but she managed to say, "Yes, it has been…"

Seeing the calm look on Chall's face made Serena angry for some reason, and she said, "So, as you can see, I've become a Gundam Meister for Lia's side of Celestial Being. You can say that I'm following in your footsteps, elder sister…"

"Serena, I-!" Chall started to say, but Serena cut her off with a glare and said in an icy tone, "Chall, did you know that our parents have been dead for the past three years?"

That struck a cord with Chall as she was shocked to hear that. In all of her time with Celestial Being, she never thought once of checking up on her family's situation, and hearing about their parents being dead for three years now just shocked her. Serena noticed Chall's reaction and said bitterly, "So you didn't know, figures…"

There was a moment of silence, with the atmosphere being tense as Serena's anger showed on her face. She said, "You know what sis, you should've kept in touch with Mom and Dad after you 'disappeared'. They started to think that you were dead after not hearing from you for so long."

Chall didn't say anything as the others watched what was going on, with Fon and Eco having neutral looks on their faces. Then Serena went on, "And then, on their deathbed after that horrid accident, you know what they asked me to do? To find any traces of you if you were still alive Chall.

"After they died, I dropped out of school just to find you, and for three years, I couldn't find any trace of you anywhere! After being set up by some jackass and being sent to that damn facility, I thought it was going to be all over after they were going to mess with my mind so that I would become a loyal soldier." Then Serena started shaking as she clenched her fists as she continued to say, "After being rescued and becoming a Gundam Meister, I find out that you've been with Celestial Being this entire time. If that's the case, then what the hell have I been doing for the past three years?"

Serena screamed the last part out, surprising Chall, Fon, and Eco. Lia, Espgarude, Neorith, and Lufione remained passive throughout the whole ideal, as Serena walked passed her, on her way out the door whispering with malice, "Why did you leave me alone?"

Hearing that made Chall feel guilty as Serena tried to leave the room, however Fon blocked her way, making Serena say in a controlled voice, "Out of my way please."

Fon didn't move, and Serena tried to force her way when Fon gave her a look, making her say, "What?"

"Just wondering why you're whining about the past." Fon said casually. That didn't go well with Serena as she said angrily, "As if I give a damn what you think. If you won't move, then I'll make you move!"

That's when Serena threw a punch at Fon, but she missed as he got out of the way just in time. Serena's anger was reaching the breaking point and she started to attack him, but all he did was dodge her attacks as they got wilder.

Lia said, "Okay, that's enough Serena." However she kept on trying to hit Fon and even Chall tried to stop her, until Fon gave her a soft kick to her abdomen, sending her flying back and hitting the wall, making Chall shout, "Fon!"

"Hey, she started it." Fon defended. Then Eco said, "You shouldn't have kicked her though."

"What did you want me to do, hit her on the head with these handcuffs?" Fon asked, holding up his cuffed hands.

Serena's head was bowed and when she looked up, there were tears in her angry eyes as she stormed out of the room. Fon commented with a hint of sarcasm, "Well, that went well for a reunion huh?"

"…" Chall didn't say anything, which made Lia say, "C'mon everyone, let's leave Chall by herself for a while."

Espgarude, Neorith, and Lufione nodded at that, as well as Fon and Eco, making everyone leave the room. Fon was the last to leave and he gave Chall a concerned look before the door closed, leaving Chall by herself.

* * *

_HRL's orbital elevator, Heaven's Pillar – lobby_

The next day, Alexi, Hayden, and Serena were sent to the surface, waiting at Heaven's Pillar to contact an agent of Lia's that went by the name of Alissa. From what Lia told them, Alissa's one of two androids that Lia designed for field work on Earth, and works to gather data from around the world about certain things, reporting back to Lia from time to time.

For Serena, she was glad to be away from the Serenitatis for a while, since the Fereshte crew were still there, currently doing an operation. Seeing Chall just stirred up the anger within her, and she didn't want to feel that right now, so now she was sitting with Alexi and Hayden at a table, waiting for this agent to show up. She asked, "So, what does this Alissa look like?"

"She has long silvery purple hair, and her eyes are a greenish color, I'm not sure what color exactly though. Her calm looks tend to stand out, and the both of us are still wondering why Lia designed her like that." Hayden told her.

"We've only met Alissa once, and that was when we first met up with Lia." Alexi added. Serena nodded and asked, "If that's the case, then why do we have to meet her now?"

"Lia said something about a picking her up and bringing her to the Serenity. We'll just have to wait here for her to show up." Alexi replied.

Both Hayden and Serena sighed as they sat at the table with bored expressions on their face, though Serena still had a few thoughts to sort out. Hayden was busy reading a book, while Alexi was listening to some music.

Not far from the three, Lockon, Allelujah, and Tieria were waiting for Setsuna to show up at a table. Tieria was in a bit of a bad mood due to the report from VEDA that said that the Bio-Soldier Research Facility was destroyed by unknown means, though the last part was something Tieria came up with. Both Lockon and Allelujah had their suspicions at first, but after hearing about the facility in more detail, both of them were glad that it was destroyed, particularly Allelujah, since hearing about it reminded him about the Super Human Institute.

That's when Setsuna showed up and Lockon said, "Hey, you know how late you are?"

"I assumed you were dead." Tieria said, half his mind still on the report from VEDA.

"What took you so long? Did something happen?" Allelujah asked.

"I submitted my report to VEDA." Setsuna simply replied.

"…I'll take a look at it later." Tieria said, with a hint of annoyance at his voice. Setsuna raised an eyebrow as Lockon explained, "Tieria's still suspicious concerning the circumstances behind the destruction of the Bio-Soldier Research Facility."

"No doubt Sumeragi Lee Noriega was half drunk when she received the message, and dismissed it as minor at first." Tieria commented.

"Maybe we have sympathizers here on Earth, and they're the ones responsible for destroying it." Allelujah suggested.

"That doesn't explain the lack of data." Tieria told him, "There's something odd about this, especially since it was our next target."

"You know, you shouldn't be thinking so hard about it Tieria. At least it's one less target we have to worry about." Lockon told him.

"Hmph, as if that attitude is befitting of a Meister." Tieria said. Lockon just rolled his eyes and said, "Well, if we find anything, we'll deal with it appropriately. For now, you should be getting on that linear train Tieria, it's almost time."

Back to the Serenitatis pilots, Alexi's communicator beeped and he took it out and answered the call. Lia's face appeared onscreen and said, "I'm sorry, but Alissa reported that she managed to infiltrate the Union's military, so she won't be able to make it."

Serena's anger started to surface as she forced it back down saying, "So, what do we do now then Lia?"

"I've just sent the mission plan for the three of you. Look over it for your next instructions." Lia told them.

The three of them said simultaneously in a low voice, "Yes Ma'am."

As the communication was cut, the mission plan was loaded onto the screen, and the three of the read it thoroughly, with Hayden saying, "What, a simple observation mission? Lia's sure scraped the bottom of this one."

Alexi said, "We'll carry this out, no matter what, and it shouldn't be hard."

"I don't care, as long as we get to stay down here longer." Serena said. Both Alexi and Hayden looked at each other, concerned about Serena's current state.

"Well then, let's get out of here now, and get ready for the mission." Alexi said. He got up with Hayden and Serena, and the two of them headed for the exit.

At the same time, Setsuna, Lockon, and Allelujah were leaving the place two, and the two groups were about to exit the building at the same time, making them stop. They looked at each other for a second before Lockon said, "Please, you three go first."

"Thank you." Serena said politely, while Alexi and Hayden just nodded in acknowledgement as they exited the building. Seeing Alexi and Hayden reminded Lockon of his younger twin brother, before he and the others left the building too.

Going in a different direction, Alexi and Hayden were wondering if they should tell Serena about the three Gundam Meisters, but after looking at each other, they shook the idea out of their heads, thinking that she had enough going on as it is. That's when Serena said, "Anyway, what do you think this Alissa is doing, infiltrating the Union's military?"

"Only Lia knows for sure. All we can do is concentrate on our missions." Hayden said, as the three of them kept walking.

* * *

_MSWAD Base – hangar_

Two people were walking side by side, one an elderly man with long hair and holding a cane, wearing a purple coat, and the other a young girl with silvery purple hair, wearing a standard lab coat over her regular clothes, which consisted of a green turtleneck and a long, black skirt. As they got closer, they heard a man say, "Yeah, those particles aren't only used for stealth, but also for controlling the machine as well."

Then the elderly man spoke up saying, "More than likely, they're also utilized in it's weaponry."

The two were looking up at a pair of men that were beside a Flag and the one with brown hair in a ponytail and wearing a lab coat said, "Professor Ralph Eifman!"

"What a remarkable man, he possesses technology several decades in advance of our own, that Aeolia Schenberg." The man called Eifman commented.

'You can say that again.' The girl thought to herself. Both men got down and met with Eifman and the girl. Then Eifman said, "It's been a while, Billy Katagiri."

"You as well Professor." Billy replied. Then he turned to the girl and asked, "And who might this be?"

"She's my new assistant for this new taskforce. Why don't you introduce yourself?" Eifman said to the girl.

The girl bowed and said in a soft voice, "Hello, I'm Alissa Hayes, and I was assigned to be Professor Eifman's assistant for this new taskforce. It's nice to meet the both of you."

Both men slightly blushed at her voice as Billy said, "Well, I'm Billy Katagiri, and my friend here is Lieutenant Graham Aker."

"Pleasure to meet you." Graham said with a nod.

Alissa smiled and said, "Wow, to meet one of the Union's top aces, and an accomplished technician at the same time. It's an honor."

"You flatter us too much Ms. Hayes." Graham said with a smile, with Billy having the same thought.

"Please, call me Alissa. I'm not much into formalities, though calling Professor Eifman Ralph would be a bit awkward if you ask me."

Both Billy and Graham smirked at that, and even Eifman smiled saying, "I don't mind Alissa, I'd admit that I'm too used to people calling me Professor at my age."

When the Flag was positioned upright and standing, the four stood in front of it and looked as Eifman said, "Anyway, what I'd really like to do is focus on capturing a Gundam, if it's possible."

"I completely agree." Graham said, "That's why I want this machine to be completely modified."

"What about the stress on the pilot?" Eifman asked, sounding concerned.

"Don't worry about the pilot's safety. However, I would like to get it done in one week." Graham replied.

Both Eifman and Alissa looked surprised as Eifman said, "Oh, you don't ask for much, do you?"

"If we're courting a Gundam, we'll have to be a little aggressive." Graham said. Billy added, "He thinks he's fallen in love with it."

"I bet Mr. Aker has a great love life then, from what I'm hearing." Alissa commented.

That earned a look from Graham, while both Eifman and Billy smirked at that. Suddenly, Graham's communicator beeped and he answered it saying, "Yeah, it's me. What? The Gundams are back? Where?"

After a moment of silence, Graham said, "I see, so it's those places."

"Where are they performing armed interventions Mr. Aker?" Alissa asked.

"Please, call me Graham. Mr. Aker sounds too old for me." Graham said, "Anyway, it seems the Gundams are hitting the South African Region and a South American Region in Taribia."

"If I recall, the South African region has a civil war dispute over mining rights, while the Taribia area has a number of grow-ops that are quite valuable, where it's valuable enough to fight over." Alissa said, "I'm guessing that they're intervening for those reason."

"That's what the top brass told me." Graham said. Suddenly he was silent for a bit as he listened in for something. Then he said, "It looks like there's a third one heading back towards Ceylon."

"Sounds like a mop up operation of their last intervention." Billy said. Alissa was silent as she thought, 'I wonder what Lia and the others are doing right now.'

* * *

_Ceylon airspace_

"I can't believe that Lia sent the three of us out here just to observe the Exia." Hayden commented. Alexi said, "A mission's a mission, and anyway, Lia's a bit concerned about Setsuna's performance."

"It's too bad that I won't be able to do anything right now, now that I'm in the pilot seat." Serena said, with Hayden looking at her from behind.

The three of them were in the two Flags under Mirage Colloid, with Serena in the pilot seat instead of Hayden. They were watching the Exia take out the Tierans one by one and Serena said, "Looks like that Setsuna pilot is doing good. Maybe Lia's processors worked overtime or something."

They continued watching until Sergei Smirnov appeared in a Tieran and challenged Setsuna in melee combat. Hayden said, "Oh? Looks like we may have someone with guts to challenge a Gundam one-on-one."

The Tieran made a feint, sacrificing an arm just to grab the Exia's head in the turnaround, trying to tear it off. As they were in a deadlock, Serena said, "That Tieran's pilot must be a veteran, to be able to grab the Exia's head."

Suddenly, the Exia ejected it's shield on the left arm and took out a beam saber. Then it sliced through the arm holding it's head, before charging and cutting through the Tieran diagonally, causing it to crash to the ground.

With that, the mission was finished as the two Flags left the airspace, heading back towards the HRL orbital elevator. As they kept flying, Hayden saying, "Well, that sure went well enough, though I wonder what would've happened to the Exia if it didn't have beam weaponry…"

That's when Lia's face appeared in the cockpit screens saying, "Good work everyone, and I see that Serena's in the cockpit this time, huh Hayden?"

"Well, I didn't see any harm in letting her control the Flag for this mission." Hayden defended. Lia smiled and said, "I don't mind, but the three of you need to get back up here now. I received word that Serena's new mobile suit is ready and will be delivered to us in a number of days. Go to Heaven's Pillar to get back up here into space."

"Roger that." The three pilots said. As the three headed towards Heaven's Pillar, Serena thought to herself, 'Well, maybe this will keep my mind off of things. Damn it…'

Hayden looked over at her and wondered if she was going to be alright. He sighed as the two Flags kept on flying towards their destination.


	4. The First Test

Phase 04 – The First Test

The Union's Synchro soldier program, something that the Union started back in 2298 A.D. as a project to produce exceptional pilots for the Union. One of the purposes of the program was to create ace pilots with the special ability to synchronize to their machines, effectively making the pilots become their mobile suits. In 2302 A.D., the program started to produce results, with twelve pilots being produced and inducted into the Union's military under their own squadron.

Two years later however, word of the Synchro Soldier program was leaked out to the media, and a scandal took place soon afterward. However, it wasn't as bad as it could've been when some of the 'subjects' stepped forward, including 'failed' ones that weren't able to go through the program completely, saying that they were completely willing and that the Union was taking good care of them in their normal lives. While the AEU tried to be slanderous, the HRL was a little less vocal than that, mostly due to having the Super Soldier Program going on in their colony in secret.

Currently, there are only a few Synchro soldiers left active in military service, with the others either dead or retired; those retired living in the US with support from the Union. The interesting thing is, the former leader of the Synchro Soldier squad was Alexi Sana…

* * *

_Transport shuttle – enroute to the Serenitatis_

Aleyris was currently by herself in the cockpit, piloting the shuttle which was under Mirage Colloid, carrying the ZGMFS-X12A Testament, along with additional armaments. As she switched to autopilot, she thought to herself, 'Haa…it's been a while since I've seen my twin boys, but what I'm really looking forward to seeing is Chall's little sister Serena in the flesh. I must admit, being the only human back at the base kind of gets lonely, despite Lia's android AIs like Espgarude and the others being around for company.'

A sigh came from Aleyris as she said, "I wonder how Chall reacted to seeing her sister after all this time…"

That's when a silver Haro entered the cockpit and went up to Aleyris saying, "Something wrong Aleyris? Something wrong Aleyris?"

"It's nothing Haro, just thinking to myself." Aleyris told the silver Haro.

"Don't hurt yourself, don't hurt yourself!" The silver Haro told her.

"Haarrrooo…" Aleyris said as she turned to the silver Haro with an annoyed look on her face. All the silver Haro said was, "Tehe, tehe!"

Then the silver Haro left the cockpit, flapping it's ears as Aleyris went after it shouting, "Get back here Haro!"

* * *

_Serenitatis – hangar_

"Hey Alexi, when's Mom supposed to arrive?" Hayden said, while holding a data pad.

"In a few hours I think. Why, is something wrong?" Alexi asked from the inside of the Freedom, busy checking over the OS.

Hayden just shook his head and said, "Nothing's wrong. I was just wondering, since it seems that Serena's been training in the Justice most of the time."

"Worried that Lia might put her as the Justice's official pilot instead of you if she gets good enough?" Alexi asked in monotone, since he was focused on checking the OS.

"Ha? No way, it's nothing like that." Hayden replied with a wave. Then Lufione showed up and said, "Lia wants to see Serena now. Where is she?"

"Inside of the Justice training." The twins said at the same time. Lufione just raised an eyebrow as she said, "Thank you."

As Lufione walked off towards the Justice, Hayden asked, "Hey bro, did you notice that most of the androids that Lia created are female?"

"…Your point is?" Alexi said, sounding not interested.

A sigh came from Hayden as he said, "You must admit, we're the only guys currently on this ship. The only other guy we've seen onboard is the brother android of Alissa, Mephisto, and that was a while ago."

"You're just thinking about it too much Hayden. Why don't you go check on the Justice now and give it a look over to pass the time. Serena and Lufione should be gone by now, so it's a good time." Alexi told him.

"Jeez, you've changed ever since you were rescued a year and a half ago." Hayden commented as he walked over to the Justice. Alexi just shook his head and mumbled, "Everyone changes with time little brother…"

* * *

_Human Reform League Joint Headquarters – conference room_

Colonel Sergei and Commander Kim were in the conference room, with Sergei giving Kim a report on the Exia that he fought in Ceylon. Kim said, "Well, how was it Colonel? You traded blows with the Gundam, didn't you? I'd like to hear your honest opinion on it's capabilities."

"I'll do my best sir," Sergei said, "My personal opinion is that I don't think that there's a mobile suit in the entire world that can stand up to a Gundam in a fair fight."

"It's capabilities are that overwhelming?" Kim asked, sounding intrigued.

"It's just my opinion sir," Sergei told Kim.

Kim looked pleased as he said, "Then calling you down here was the right thing to do." Then Kim got serious as he ordered, "Colonel Smirnov, you are to acquire a Gundam for us before the Union or the AEU do."

Sergei stood straight and gave his undivided attention saying, "Sir!"

"I am forming a team for that purpose. I'll leave the selection of personnel to you, however there are two soldiers that I would like to entrust you with." Kim informed him.

There was a look of slight confusion on Sergei's face as Kim turned to the door and said, "Please, come on in you two."

The door opened and two girls, one with long silvery hair and golden yellow eyes, with the other that had strawberry blonde hair that was the same length and grayish red eyes, walked in and went up to the two. Both of them saluted as the girl with the silvery hair said, "Excuse me sir, I am Lieutenant Soma Peries, Super Soldier No.1, dispatched from the Super Human Institute."

"Super Human?" Sergei said, looking surprised as he turned to Kim, "But sir, I thought that project was-!"

"Apparently, they continued to carry it out in secret. The higher ups believe that it may be our trump cards against the Gundams, just like this girl here." Kim said, motioning to the strawberry blond girl.

Sergei looked at her as the girl said, "Lieutenant Junior Grade Rinissa Todlar. I'm a former Synchro Soldier from the Union that was transferred here a year ago as a sign of good faith between the Union and the HRL."

That shocked Sergei, since he and the world knew about the Synchro Soldier scandal. This made him wonder about the Super Human Institute as both Soma and Rinissa took a step forward and Soma said, "As of today, the two of us have been assigned to your elite unit Colonel. It is a great honor to meet you sir."

"I as well Colonel." Rinissa said with an additional bow. Sergei looked at them and commented, "The two of you are much too young for this…"

When Sergei looked into their eyes, he could tell a difference between the two. He could see that Rinissa had battle hardened eyes, despite her cheery face, while Soma looked to be new to the whole military unit. He sighed and said to Kim, "I understand sir, and I will do my best to complete this objective."

"I'm counting on you Colonel. The three of you are dismissed." Kim said to them.

"Yes sir!" The three soldiers said in salute. Soma and Rinissa walked on either side of Sergei and walked out of the room, with Kim hoping that the squad would be able to actually capture a Gundam.

* * *

_Serenitatis – hangar_

Aleyris and the Testament arrived and the Gundam was currently being loaded into the hangar. Aleyris was in front of Alexi and Hayden after giving them her greetings, with Espgarude and Neorith showing up a moment later. They waited until Lia, Lufione, and Serena showed up, with Lia said, "Aleyris, glad to see you arrived here alright."

"Thanks Lia. And this must be Chall's little sister, Serena right?" Aleyris said, looking at Serena with a smile.

Hearing Chall's name made a nerve in Serena twitch, but she didn't say anything as Aleyris went up to her and said, "Wow, the resemblance is quite uncanny. Well anyway, your Gundam has been delivered to you Serena Acustica."

When Aleyris waved her hand towards the Testament, Serena's eyes widened a bit at the sight and asked, "So, that's my personal unit?"

"Yes, and it's a special one at that," Aleyris told her. When everyone had her eyes on her, she went on to explain, "The Testament can equip additional weaponry that's in the form of Armor Packs. I brought three packs along with me per Lia's orders, along with a few additional weapons for the Justice and Freedom."

"Additional weapons?" Hayden asked, wondering why the Justice and Freedom would need additional weapons. Alexi wondered about that too when Lia said, "It's not much, the additions won't affect your Gundams' performance a lot, but the OS will need to be updated a bit to incorporate the weapons."

"Yes, for the Justice, an equipable add-on to the Lupus beam rifle which increases the firing range, but as a drawback, can't be used in close quarters due to the charge delay. The add-on can also be used as a beam pistol in close combat. For the Freedom, a pair of Schwert Gewehr anti-ship short swords will be added for additional close range combat capability, and are able to combine into a kind of broadsword with a full beam edge." Aleyris explained to them. She then added, "The blades will be stored on the Freedom's shoulders, while the add-on beam pistol will be stored on the Justice's waist."

Then she turned to Serena and said, "I'll explain the three packs in detail when you get used to controlling the Testament. For now why don't we give it a simulation run?"

"That's sounds great!" Serena replied with a thin smile. The two went off and Lia said, "Espgarude, Lufione, please go over and help them if they need it."

"Of course Lia." The two androids said before going off to follow Serena and Aleyris.

* * *

_MSWAD Base – hangar_

"I've reinforced the backpack and the joints, and applied an anti-beam coating to the unit's surface. For weaponry, I procured a prototype rifle from the Iris Corporation." Eifman told them.

He, Alissa, Billy and Graham were looking at the new custom Flag that was requested by Graham. Graham looked amazed as he said, "It looks magnificent Professor! This should give me an edge against the Gundams!"

"However, even with the anti-G system activated, you'll still be feeing about twelve Gs when turning at full speed." Billy informed him.

"That's exactly what I'm hoping for." Graham said. Alissa shook her head and said, "Just be careful, the Professor had to do a number of things to make this faster than the usual Flag. One precise hit from the Gundams and it's all over for you Graham."

"Don't worry about it Alissa, I'll be the one to make the first move and end it before the Gundam can even react." Graham assured her.

That's when a voice shouted with approval, "So, this is the Lieutenant's Flag."

The four looked towards the source and saw two uniformed men walk towards them. Then they both saluted and the man with the glasses said, "Warrant Officer Howard Mason, Master Sergeant Daryl Dodge, we've been assigned to the Anti-Gundam Investigative Taskforce as per your request sir."

"Ah, you came," Graham said while saluting them, "Let me welcome you Flag fighters."

That's when Graham noticed something and said, "Wait a minute, there was supposed to be another soldier with you. Where is he?"

"He said that a last minute call had come in for him and was going to be late. It was something from the top brass, I think." Howard replied as the two of them let their hands drop.

Graham was about to say something when everyone heard running footsteps coming from behind Howard and Daryl. They turned to look and saw a young man in uniform running up to them in a hurry. When he stopped beside Howard, they saw that he had short brown hair that had a layered spike look with matching eyes, and was panting to catch his breath. He stood up straight and saluted saying, "Lieutenant Brandon Igrissa, reporting to the Anti-Gundam Investigative Taskforce at your request Lieutenant Aker, sir."

"Glad to see that you could make Lieutenant." Graham said with a grin.

"Sorry that I was late, the top brass needed to confirm something with me." Brandon told them.

Billy and Eifman looked surprised to hear that Brandon was a Lieutenant and asked, "Graham, is he really a Lieutenant? Not to mention that he looks a little young to be in the military…"

"Oh, he's a Lieutenant alright. Why don't you tell him the squad that you used to be in Brandon?" Graham said.

"Sure sir," Brandon said, putting up a salute, "Brandon Igrissa, former member of the Synchro Soldier squad, at your service sir."

Both Billy and Eifman looked surprised, while Howard, Daryl, and Alissa raised an eyebrow at the news. Of course all of them knew about the program now, and it was a surprise to see a Synchro Soldier in front of them. Billy nodded and said, "I see, so that's why you're a Lieutenant. My apologizes."

"Don't worry about it, I get that a lot around the other soldiers." Brandon assured him.

'Hmm, I better report to Lia about this later. No doubt that he used to be in the same squad as Alexi…' Alissa thought to herself.

* * *

_Serenitatis – bridge_

The next day, the entire crew was on the bridge, watching the Taribia declaration of independence from the Union. As they watched Lia said, "Well, it looks like Celestial Being's going to be intervening in this conflict. I sure feel sorry for the Taribians though."

"Huh? Why's that?" Serena said, confused by Lia's words.

"I understand it may seem odd at first, but you need to read between the lines Serena." Aleyris told her. Lia nodded and said, "Yes, by declaring that they're going to use their military to deter outside threats, mainly from the Union and the US, they're implicitly stating that they're going to attack first. Translate it a certain way, and you can see that they're essentially 'promoting' war by making the first move."

Alexi, Hayden, and Serena nodded in understanding as Aleyris asked, "So, what are you going to do now Lia?"

There was a moment of silence as Lia processed the current information. Then she replied, "Alexi, Hayden, the two of you are to go down to the surface in the Flags. It may be early, but it's time to test the Ptolemaios' Gundam Meisters."

The three current Gundam Meisters looked surprised as Lia briefed them. "It's simple, after the mission's done, Alexi and Hayden will ambush two of the three Gundams as they're retreating. The objective is to fight them for five minutes, trying to disarm them by destroying their weapons. Before any of you say anything, they have spares, so it won't hinder the plan. Saying that, Alexi will go after the Kyrios, while Hayden goes after the Dynames."

"What about the Exia?" Serena asked, hoping that she'd be able to get in on the action. However Lia seemed to know where she was going and said, "Sorry Serena, but you need to stay here and continue to fine tune the Testament to your specifications. Not to mention there are only two Flags currently built."

That put Serena off until Aleyris put her hand on her shoulder saying, "Don't worry, as a trade off, I'll tell you embarrassing stories about your sister during the early days of when she joined Celestial Being."

Serena had mixed feelings about that, but in the end she said, "Alright, let's get back to the Testament now. You still have to explain the Glide, Blade, and Artillery packs to me."

Aleyris nodded and the two girls walked away from the bridge, but not before Aleyris saying, "Espgarude, Lufione, are you two coming?"

Both Espgarude and Lufione rushed after them as the four left the bridge, leaving Lia, Alexi, Hayden, and Neorith on the bridge. Neorith just stood there looking calm as Lia said, "Once I get Sumeragi Lee Noriega's mission plan in detail, I'll give you a few more details about our own mission plan. For now, just head out down to the surface."

"Roger that." Alexi and Hayden said simultaneously. The two were about to leave when Lia said, "Just a moment Alexi."

Hayden looked at his brother and Alexi gave him a nod, before Hayden left the bridge to leave the others by themselves. Alexi asked, "What is it Lia?"

"Do you know a Brandon Igrissa?" Lia asked curtly.

That made Alexi step back in shock, though he managed to hide it, keeping his face neutral saying, "He was a former comrade, why?"

"It's nothing, just something that Alissa reported." Lia said. Alexi looked at her suspiciously, but shook it off as he left the bridge. Neorith looked at her and asked, "Why didn't you tell him what was on the report."

"It's better that he doesn't know, it's hard fighting former comrades, though I figure that Alexi's already figured it out." Lia replied.

Neorith nodded and she went over to one of the terminals and sat down, typing in commands that would prepare the launch bays. Lia sat down in the captain's chair and said, "After Alexi and Hayden have launched, access VEDA and retrieve the plans for Taribia. I don't want to cause an international incident just because we're using Flags, if possible."

"Roger that Lia." Neorith said as she started typing commands into her console. Lia just sat back and started processing information, making her look like a statue sitting in the chair.

* * *

_Human Reform League military base – cafeteria_

Rinissa and Soma were sitting with Sergei, watching the Taribian declaration. Then Sergei asked, "Lieutenant Peries, why do you think that Taribia has decided to take such a bold line of approach?"

"If the Union takes military action, then they know that Celestial Being will intervene in order to prevent a conflict." Soma plainly replied.

"But, the question is, who they will attack if they show up? The Union forces, Taribia, or both?" Rinissa asked.

Sergei looked slightly surprised by Rinissa's question and asked, "I've been wondering Lieutenant Todlar, how long have you been fighting in the military?"

Rinissa looked at him and thought about it before she replied, "For about five years up to now."

That made both Soma and Sergei look at her in surprise, while Sergei shook his head thinking, 'Makes me wonder what the world's coming to…'

* * *

_MSWAD Base – hangar_

"Will you accept the invitation, Gundams?" Graham asked to no one in particular, with Howard, Daryl, Brandon, and himself in pilot suits, watching the declaration.

"It'd be disappointing if they didn't, but that won't be the case here." Brandon said.

"I agree with you there Brandon." Graham said, "If they're serious about eliminating war, then there's no way that they won't show up, and that will be our chance to capture one."

Then Brandon looked at him and asked, "Mind if I ask which one you're interested in Graham, sir?"

"The bladed one of course. The pilot's still a kid in that Gundam, despite the mobile suit having superior capabilities." Graham told him.

Brandon wondered about that as the four kept on watching the declaration. His thoughts went back to his leader and thought, 'Alexi, I wonder what you would think about this situation if you were still here with us…'

* * *

_Taribian airspace – battlefield_

"How long are we going to wait?" Hayden said from the inside of his Flag.

Alexi was silent for a moment before he replied, "Soon, since it looks like the Exia, Dynames, and Kyrios just finished making a mess out of the Taribian military."

Both Flags were under Mirage Colloid waiting for the Dynames and Kyrios to withdraw from the battlefield. Lia's plan was to engage them, making the two Gundam Meisters think that they were regular Flags from the Union's military, then attack them with their beam rifles to catch them off guard. Lia had also incorporated that a number of Union fighters into the plan, saying that they are to be attacked to throw off any suspicions on the Union for having beam based weaponry in their arsenal.

Now Alexi and Hayden were watching the battle unfold and saw that the three Gundams were withdrawing to their respective fallback points. That's when Alexi said, "Alright, now's the time."

Hayden nodded as the two Flags deactivated their Mirage Colloid and went after the Dynames and Kyrios in their Flags' mobile fighter form. Alexi thought, 'Gundam…'

Meanwhile the Dynames and Kyrios were flying away when Lockon got wind of Setsuna battling Graham's Flag. He shook his head and said, "Jeez, that kid's always attracting trouble."

That's when a signal appeared on is radar and Haro said, "Enemy approaching, enemy approaching!"

"I can see that Haro. Who is it? The Union?" Lockon asked.

"Unknown, unknown!" Haro chirped, making Lockon show a confused look on his face as he asked, "Can you at least identify the enemy Haro?"

"It's a Flag, it's a Flag!" Haro replied. Lockon raised an eyebrow as his targeting rifle descended and Lockon took aim and fired shouting, "Anyway, sorry for the pilot, but it needs to go. Lockon Stratos, targeted and firing!"

The Dynames fired it's long range rifle at the oddly crimson Flag, but to Lockon's surprise the Flag dodged the shot. Thinking it was a coincidence, Lockon kept on firing, only for the Flag to dodge the shots at the last moments. Lockon narrowed his eyes as the Flag transformed, and to his surprise, fired a green beam shot towards him, making him dodge.

As the Flag got closer, Lockon whispered, "Shoot, was that a beam shot? Since when does a Flag have that?"

That's when the Flag hoisted it's rifle and took out a beam saber, charging right towards the Dynames while evading it's shots, making Lockon hoist his own rifle and take out a beam saber to block the slash from the Flag. In the deadlock Lockon shouted, "It has a beam saber too? What the hell is this Flag?"

Inside the Flag, Hayden whispered to himself, "Dynames, Lockon Stratos, you're being tested…"

Meanwhile, the Kyrios was fighting in a dogfight against the jet black Flag, trading beam shots with each other. Allelujah was just as surprised as Lockon at the sight of the Flag he was fighting having beam weaponry. He dodged another shot from the Flag as he said, "This isn't a normal Flag…and why do I have an odd feeling about it?"

'Who cares? Just kill the damn thing already!' Hallelujah screamed from inside of Allelujah's head.

'Hallelujah…' Allelujah thought as he fired upon the jet black Flag, only for it to block the shots with it's shield.

Inside, Alexi thought to himself, 'Ironic, a Synchro Soldier versus a Super Soldier. Let's see how well you stack up Allelujah Haptism…'

* * *

_Ptolemaios – bridge_

At the same time after Christina Sierra informed Sumeragi and the others that the Exia was being attacked, another warning appeared on Christina's monitor and she said, "What's this, Dynames and Kyrios are being engaged in combat also by what appear to be Flags!"

"What was that?" Sumeragi shouted, taking a closer look at the data that was coming in. Tieria wondered about that too as he went up to the screen as Christina said, "There's a message from Haro. It says that the Flags are equipped with beam weaponry!"

Now that caught everyone's attention as Tieria said, "That's impossible, only the Gundams should possess that kind of technology."

"I'm putting a visual up on screen now." Christina said. A screen popped up, showing the Dynames fighting the crimson Flag. The Dynames took out a GN Pistol and started firing at the Flag to widen the distance. Then another screen showed up, showing the shootout between the jet black Flag and the Kyrios. The Kyrios tried to close the distance, but the Flag was shooting at it with precise shots, making the Gundam defend itself with it's shield.

Tieria's eyes narrowed as he rushed out of the room, making Sumeragi say, "Where do you think you're going Tieria?"

"I'm going to check VEDA for answers." Tieria said curtly. Sumeragi just watched as Tieria left the bridge in a hurry. Christina looked at Sumeragi and asked, "What are your orders Miss Sumeragi?"

"Tell Lockon and Allelujah to destroy those Flags completely. They're too dangerous to just leave alone, and if they belong to the Union, then we're in trouble if they have more of those things."

"Roger that Ma'am." Christina said as she relayed those orders to the Dynames and Kyrios. That's when Lasse Aeon asked, "Shouldn't we have tried to capture those machines instead? I mean if they are from the Union, then we should capture them and see how they developed beam weaponry."

"No, it's better to destroy them. They've must've been pretty expensive to build if they are from the Union, so my prediction is that they're only a few of them." Sumeragi told Lasse.

Then Sumeragi thought to herself and hoped that Lockon and Allelujah were going to be alright, since beam weaponry were pretty much the only weapons truly effective against the Gundams. She thought, 'After this, we'll give this matter a thorough investigation…'

* * *

_Taribian airspace – battlefield_

After Setsuna submerged underwater, Graham, Howard, Daryl, and Brandon hovered in the air as the three regular Flags went up to the custom Flag. Brandon commented, "Looks like the Gundam got away, who knew it had underwater capabilities."

"That's true…" Howard commented. Graham just shook his head when command contacted the squad, with him answering, "Yes, what is it?"

"Sir, we've just received a report that the two other Gundams are engaged with what happen to look like Flags." The person on the other line informed them.

Everyone was surprised at that as Graham said, "Can you identify the pilots of the Flags?"

"Sorry sir, but they don't even have IFF signals. Two squads of Realdos have been sent to investigate. Everyone else is to remain on standby for now until we can get more information." The person on the other end informed them.

As the communication got cut, Daryl said, "Hmm, I wonder how this happened…"

"No point dwelling on it, we'll just have to stay here on standby and lament on how the Gundam ditched Graham Aker again." Brandon said in a joking manner.

Both Howard and Daryl stifled laughs, while Graham shook his head and thought, 'Those Gundams…can we really beat them with our current strength?'

Around the same time, Hayden and Lockon were currently still fighting, with Hayden taking out his other beam saber while Lockon took out a GN Beam Pistol and started firing at the Flag. He had just received new orders concerning the Flag and he said, "Shoot, if only it were that easy. It's like I'm fighting a Gundam here!"

With Alexi and Allelujah, the fighting was still at a standstill as Allelujah tried to fight at close range, but Alexi wouldn't give him the chance. When he saw Sumeragi's orders, Hallelujah's voice shouted with glee, 'This is perfect! Let me take the controls! I'll kill this bastard in the most painful way possible!'

"No way Hallelujah…" Allelujah whispered as he aimed another shot at the Flag. On Alexi's end, he gritted his teeth as he thought, 'The time's almost up, and I haven't landed a single hit on the Kyrios. As expected of a Gundam Meister.'

That's when the four mobile suit's sensors lit up, and they showed that squads of Realdos were heading towards each of their respective locations. While Lockon and Allelujah were momentarily distracted by the appearance of the Realdos, Hayden and Alexi instantly reacted and headed off towards them as per Lia's plan.

One of the Realdo pilots heading towards Hayden and Lockon saw the crimson Flag approaching with it's beam sabers and said, "Confirmed sighting of the unknown, it's a Flag and it's heading right towards us!"

Before the Realdo pilots could react, Hayden cut each of them apart at the wings and thrusters, sending the mobile suits spiraling down into the ocean. He said, "Part of the plan is now complete. Let's just hope Alexi can tie up his end."

Allelujah started to fight Hallelujah for control and that left the Kyrios hovering in the air. Alexi saw that it wasn't moving and made it his priority to go after the Realdos that were approaching. Taking out the beam rifle, Alexi shot at each of the Realdos when he got close enough, and they suffered the same fate as the other squad as they spiraled down into the ocean. Alexi thought, 'Well, this should keep the AEU and HRL off the Union's back for a while…'

Both siblings looked at the time and saw it was already up and used Mirage Colloid to disappear and flee the battlefield. Lockon and Allelujah were shocked to see that both of them had simply vanished as Lockon said, "What the-? How the heck did they do that?"

"The ability to cloak themselves, could they actually be with Celestial Being?" Allelujah whispered to himself. He then shook his head and said, "No, if they were, why would they attack us?"

That's when Setsuna contacted both of them saying, "Lockon, Allelujah, are you two alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine Setsuna." Lockon replied. Allelujah showed up on Lockon's monitor saying, "I'm alright here too. Do you know what those Flags were by the way?"

"Not sure, but all I know is that we need to leave now before the Union's military is all over us." Lockon replied. Allelujah nodded and both the Kyrios and Dynames left the airspace before anyone could catch up to them.

With Alexi and Hayden, the two were traveling towards the HRL's orbital elevator, with the two communicating on a secured channel. Hayden said, "I couldn't land a single hit on the Dynames, how about you Alexi?"

"Same here," Alexi replied, "For now, let's just head back up into space and give Lia our report in person."

"Roger that." Hayden replied, as the two Flags went on autopilot, the twins a bit tired from the short duels that they had with the Gundams. As he laid back, Hayden thought, 'When are we going to be able to actually use our Gundams?'

* * *

Note: I forgot to mention in the last chapter that Alissa isn't a character that I created. She, as well as Mephisto who I mentioned, are from Spectral Force Genesis. I got caught up in wanting to get the chapter up ASAP that I forgot to add an end note. Also, as most of you already guessed, the Glide, Blade, and Artillery Armor packs are based off the Aile, Sword, and Launcher Striker packs from Gundam Seed, but have differences in design that will be fleshed out in the next chapter. Until then!

P.S.: Whatever happened to the automatic borderlines? Inputting them manually is such a pain...


	5. Adrift in Space

Phase 05 – Adrift in Space

_Serentatis – bridge_

Lia was by herself, looking over the various reports that were onscreen. One of them in particular was the status of Serena's training. She knew from Serena's time in the Bio-Soldier facility that she had gone through mobile suit training, but what she was seeing was quite an impressive training record. Lia thought, 'No doubt that she's going to be as good as Chall, or maybe even better. Still, I'll keep her here for further training, since she still has her anger issues, though she's shown an impressive control of her emotions after the sisters met each other…'

That's when a notice came in from VEDA, saying that Tieria was looking very hard for answers concerning the GT Flags. She smiled and said, "Poor Tieria, he'll never find the data he's looking for. I must admit, he is quite stubborn when it comes to the success of the Plan…well, I guess that's expected."

Closing the notice, Lia got up and said, "Well, it's my turn to supervise Serena's training, and she should be coming up to the bridge in three, two, one…"

At that moment, the bridge door opened and Serena walked in with an irritated look on her face. Lia looked at her and said, "You shouldn't make that kind of face Serena. You'll ruin your good looks."

"…Whatever." Serena said, although the look on her face relaxed. Lia nodded and said, "Okay, it's time for another round of training in the Testament, this time using the Glide Pack."

Serena made a face at that, not looking forward to another simulation round. She muttered, "I'm getting tired of all these simulations."

That's when Lia clapped her hands and said, "Oh yes, it's not going to be a simulation. You're going to be taking the Testament out for an actual spin, since simulations can only take you so far. That's why we're currently traveling to the L5 asteroid field, so you can get used to actually maneuvering your Gundam. Oh, and I'll be joining you inside the cockpit so I can oversee everything personally."

Lia walked ahead of Serena, and despite being an android, she had the sneaking suspicion that Serena was thrilled from hearing her announcement. She smiled to herself as the two kept on walking toward the hangar, with Serena catching up to say, "So, is there anything else you should brief me on before we head out?"

A nod came from Lia as she said, "I'll explain everything after we launch. By the way, just to tell you, Alexi and Hayden have gone out with Espgarude in their Flags. I sent them out to scout the lower orbital ring to check a few things, so they won't be back for a while."

"Oh, okay…" Serena said. The two reached the entrance of the hangar to find Neorith and Lufione at the entrance. Lia ordered, "The two of you go up to the bridge and monitor everything that's going on, alright?"

"Roger that Lia." Neorith said with a mock salute. Lufione just nodded as she followed Neorith to the bridge. Then both Lia and Serena entered the bridge with Serena going off to get changed into her pilot suit, which was a silver gray color. Lia looked over to the Testament and saw that it already had it's Glide pack attached already, and was ready to go. She just stood there in silence watching the Testament until Serena got back, and then both of them headed over to the Gundam to board.

* * *

_Low orbital ring – a fair distance from the HRL's orbital elevator_

"We've been going at this for hours, and we still haven't found anything yet." Hayden said with irritation. He was starting to get a bit restless in the inside of his Flag as the two kept on moving above the ring.

"It would be considered lucky if we actually did find anything…" Alexi muttered. He looked over the scanners as he asked, "Do you see anything Espgarude?"

Espgarude, who was in the cockpit behind Alexi, replied, "No, there's nothing. The ring's quiet as usual."

"Ugh, and Lia sent the Serenitatis to L5 to train Serena. We'll have to head to True Pillar and wait on standby until they get back." Hayden said with a sigh.

That's when Hayden got an idea and said, "Hey, remember that Celestial Being has a mission that's involving a testing of a new HRL machine? Why don't we go over and take a look while we're there?"

"It's not part of our mission…" Alexi replied, making Hayden sigh, until he added, "But it won't hurt to just observe."

"Now you're talking bro!" Hayden said in a pleased manner. Alexi just shook his head at his brother's reaction as he asked, "Is that alright Espgarude?"

Espgarude thought about it for a moment before she replied, "It shouldn't be a problem, and the data we'll obtain from the observation should prove quite useful. Make sure to add it to the report alright?"

"Sure thing Espgarude." Hayden said, "Now then, let's hurry up and reach True Pillar!"

Alexi shook his head and smiled at his brother's antics, while Espgarude kept a lookout for anything on the monitors. Hayden thought, 'I know these types of missions are necessary, but I wish they weren't so boring, especially in our position…'

* * *

_Linear Train – private compartment_

Sergei, Soma, and Rinissa were in a compartment together, with Sergei sitting opposite of Soma and Rinissa. As they sat there, Sergei asked, "By the way Lieutenant Peries, I've been wondering why you volunteered to join the Super Human Institute…"

"I didn't volunteer," Soma simply replied, "In fact, I am a designer baby created specifically for the Super Soldier program."

When he heard that response, it made Sergei think back to when one of the Super Soldier scientists explained about Soma's capabilities to him. He found it disturbing and it must've shown on his face when Soma called out to him, "Are you alright, Colonel?"

"…It's nothing Lieutenant." Sergei assured her. He then turned to Rinissa and said, "Well then, how about you Lieutenant Todlar? I heard that all of the Synchro Soldiers were volunteers a while back. So why did you volunteer?"

"It's a bit of a long story, but simply put, I became an orphan after my parents died in a terrorist attack when I was four, and I don't have any known relatives that are alive. The Union military approached the orphanage that I was living in and asked all the orphans if they'd volunteer to come with them after explaining about the Synchro Soldier program. I joined up in an instant, thinking that it would be a new start in my life…" Rinissa explained to him.

Sergei nodded in understanding, while Soma looked at Rinissa a bit oddly before asking, "Lieutenant Todlar, why do you fight?"

Rinissa turned to Soma and simply replied, "Because I want to protect innocent civilians, so they won't end up like my parents."

Both soldiers found that response to be a bit deep, and while Soma had a bit of a hard time understanding, Sergei felt the same way as he thought, 'This girl, she's so young, yet she's seen so much at the same time. It's amazing that she can act like a normal girl her age…'

That's when Rinissa changed the subject saying, "By the way, what do you think about what happened in Taribia concerning those two Flags?"

Sergei looked at her with a questioning look, but he replied, "Honestly, I don't think that they're really made by the Union. If they were, then more than just two Flags would've shown up, concerning the Union's resources."

"But wouldn't those two be considered a kind of prototype, Colonel?" Soma asked him.

"No, Lieutenant. None of the three blocks have been able to make a breakthrough in beam technology, and not only that, those two Flags even shot down those Union fighters during their battles." Sergei said. Then he smiled a bit and said, "At least there are those out there that are against Celestial Being and have the ability to back it up. It shows that the Gundams aren't invincible."

Rinissa nodded, thought she looked back at the videos of the battles caught by the satellites and found the jet black Flag's performance to be familiar. She thought, 'That Flag's fighting style, why does it remind me of Captain Alexi's…?'

* * *

_Ptolemaios – bridge_

Sumeragi, Feldt, and Christina were busy with data analysis, with Lichtendal and Lasse missing from their posts. The three were currently going over the data from Dynames and Kyrios' battles with the GT Flags, and were concerned about their beam weaponry. That's when Tieria came on to the bridge and asked, "Have you figured out anything yet?"

"Nope, nothing much yet. We're still trying to figure out the proper specs of those Flags." Sumeragi replied. Tieria shook his head and said, "VEDA doesn't have any information on them either."

"Miss Sumeragi, do you think that those Flags were from the Union, and the fact that they shot down those Realdos could just be a ruse to hide that fact from the other blocs?" Christina asked.

"I doubt that. The performance of those two Flags was completely different from the one that engaged Setsuna." Sumeragi told her, "We need to figure out where they came from, because they could pose a high risk to endangering the plan."

Tieria was in thought as his arms were crossed, 'First the Bio-Soldier incident, now this. The plan is still in it's infancy and already we're running into problems." Then Tieria looked up at Sumeragi and asked, "What are your orders concerning those Flags, Miss Sumeragi?"

"If those Flags show up again, then you are to destroy them on sight. I've already sent that detail to the others, so all we can do now is wait and see if they'll show up again." Sumeragi replied with a serious look.

There was a hint of approval in Tieria's eyes as he said, "Roger that. So what do we know about those Flags currently?"

"Not much, but from the data from Haro, we suspect that both those Flags' overall performance is on par with the Gundams." Feldt replied.

That made Tieria's eyes narrow and he left the bridge saying, "I'm going to go check VEDA one more time."

Sumeragi was deep in thought that she didn't hear Tieria leave as she figured, "We'll need to figure out if even more of those things are being developed, and the place where they were manufactured. Ugh, it's one thing after another…I need a drink."

* * *

_MSWAD Base – research room_

Eifman and Alissa were busy looking over the data collected on the GT Flags in Taribia. Eifman was particularly interested in the Flags' beam weaponry as he watched the video of the Dynames fighting the crimson Flag. He said, "These Flags are quite interesting. I wonder who built these, and how…"

Alissa knew exactly what was going on, but kept quiet as Eifman continued to watch. Billy went up to them and said, "Those two Flags are quite impressive. It's a shame that they aren't the Union's, though the beam weaponry is something to wonder about."

"Yes, beam technology is something that has yet to be perfected here in the Union, or anywhere else in the world." Alissa commented. She then thought, 'It probably would've been commonplace if mobile suits had been accepted back in the late 21st century.'

Billy noticed that Alissa was oddly quiet and asked, "Is something wrong Alissa?"

"No, just thinking about a few things." Alissa replied with a smile. Billy just nodded when he saw Eifman now watching the video of the battle between the jet black Flag and the Kyrios. He shook his head saying, "We know that those Flags aren't ours, yet from what I've heard, the AEU and HRL are still demanding answers, despite those machines shooting down our own."

"They're just making it one big conspiracy, huh?" Alissa said. Billy just sighed and replied, "It sure sounds that way."

When Billy looked at Eifman, Alissa shook her head and said, "Professor Eifman doesn't want to be disturbed at the moment, so let's head outside for a moment."

"Uh, sure…" Billy replied, and the two left the room. Alissa thought to herself, 'It looks like Lia's plan didn't work as well as it was supposed to…'

* * *

_MSWAD Base – cafeteria_

"Man, I wish those Flags were on our side!" Graham said with a smirk.

"Yeah, but even better if we were the ones piloting them." Brandon suggested.

"Now that's something I can agree on!" Howard agreed.

"Heck yeah!" Daryl said with a nod.

The Flag fighters all smirked at the thought until Graham got serious and said, "Anyway, those Flags aren't regular ones, that's for sure. The reports said that they had beam weaponry, something only Celestial Being currently has."

Brandon thought back to when he saw the videos of the fights, and found the fighting style of the jet black Flag to be very familiar, yet he couldn't put his finger on it. He shook his head and said, "So, what are the top brass' orders concerning those two Flags?"

"If possible, capture one of them, along with the Gundams," Graham told them, "For some reason, the Flags take higher priority this time, since they think that capturing them will make capturing the Gundams much easier for us."

"That makes sense." Howard commented. Daryl and Brandon nodded at that, though that irking feeling that Brandon had wouldn't go away.

* * *

_HRL Base – test hangar_

Sergei, Soma, and Rinissa walked into a room where two mobile suits were standing beside each on the other side of the glass. When the three walked forward, Sergei looked at the mobile suits and said, "Ah, so these are the ones?"

"Yes sir, these are the machines that are adapted to Super Soldier No. 1's reaction speed and Lieutenant Todlar's special ability and skill, the MSJ-06IISR Tieren Taozi Units One and Two. Unit One belongs to Lieutenant Peries, while Unit Two belongs to Lieutenant Todlar." The soldier informed them.

The three looked at the Tieren Taozi and saw that Unit One was pink, while Unit Two was black. Rinissa just looked at her mobile suit until she realized something and asked, "Excuse me, but you said that my machine was adapted for my ability right? How's that possible?"

The soldier replied, "Apparently, a few of the scientists in the Super Human Institute used to be part of the Synchro Soldier program before they were scouted. They had the data ready and it was sent to us after they received word that a machine was being made for you Lieutenant."

Rinissa narrowed her eyes as she thought, 'I heard that a few of the scientists had gone missing after the program went under, but none of us thought they'd be recruited!'

A sigh came from Rinissa as she said, "Alright, please continue with your explanation."

As the soldier went on, Rinissa thought, 'I wish you were still with us Captain Alexi…'

* * *

_Orbital ring – enroute to True Pillar_

"Achoo!" Alexi sneezed, surprising Hayden who he was talking to. The younger Sana looked at his brother and said, "Hmm, I bet someone's talking about you."

"As if I believe in that kind of thing," Alexi replied, "We're almost at True Pillar, so keep your eyes out for that new machine of theirs."

"Of course." Both Hayden and Espgarude replied. As Hayden cut the link, Espgarude asked, "Allergies?"

"How's that possible, we're in space." Alexi told her, a bit confused by Espgarude's question. She just shrugged and went back to watching the monitors, while Alexi focused on the flying.

* * *

_HRL's True Pillar – space vicinity_

Outside in space, a Space Tieren and two Tieren Taozis were outside with the pink Tieren Taozi doing it's test runs. Sergei in the Space Tieren said, "Lieutenant Peries, let's check out your machine's maneuverability first. Follow the designated course at full acceleration."

"Roger that Colonel." Soma said. She then whispered to herself, "Here I go."

As the Tieren Taozi sped off, Rinissa contacted Sergei saying, "Permission to speak freely sir?"

"Go ahead Lieutenant." Sergei replied. Rinissa then said, "Do you really think that Lieutenant Peries' Taozi should be pink sir?"

A small chuckle came from Sergei as he replied, "Personally, no. The color of your machine makes more sense, since it would be hard to see in space. But I don't happen to have any say in that actually."

That's when Soma's Tieren made a stop and kept on going on the designated course. Both Sergei and Rinissa were impressed with Soma's skill and the Tieren Taozi's specs. Rinissa thought, 'Wow, such skill for someone new on the battlefield. It's sad that she treats herself as a tool though…'

Suddenly, Soma's Tieren started to go off course and both Sergei and Rinissa went after her, with Sergei saying, "Lieutenant, you're veering off the designated course! What's wrong?"

"M-my…head… Colonel, s-something's throbbing…in m-my head!" Soma struggled to say. Rinissa was troubled by Soma's voice and asked, "What's going on here?"

"That's what I'd like to know!" Sergei said as he and Rinissa gave chase. As they got closer, they heard Soma scream and she aimed her weapon towards True Pillar. Both of them saw what she was going to do and Sergei shouted, "Lieutenant, stop!"

As the Tieren Taozi started firing at the orbital station, Rinissa was shocked at what Soma was doing. Meanwhile, Sergei managed to reach Soma's Tieren and he tried calling out to her, but she wasn't responding as the Tieren Taozi kept on firing. Rinissa aimed her own weapon as she shouted, "Permission to disable the weapon Colonel!"

"Denied Lieutenant Todlar!" Sergei shouted, just as Soma's weapon ran out of ammunition. Rinissa moved her Tieren Taozi closer and that's when she saw a gravity block float away from the station. Sergei saw it too and said in disbelief, "This is a disaster…"

"Colonel, what are your orders? The gravity block is…!" Rinissa shouted, watching in horror as the gravity block floated farther and farther away.

"I know Lieutenant! Control, this is Sergei. Give me a damage report on the gravity blocks." Sergei ordered through the communication link.

The soldier on the other end replied, "Here's the situation Colonel, gravity block number seven is drifting. And according to the distress signal we received, there are two hundred and thirty-two people stranded inside it."

Rinissa gripped her controls as Sergei asked, "What about the rescue team?"

"One is supposed to deploy in seven minutes, and we're scrambling a small combat team to support them as well." The soldier replied, "However, because of the explosive shock and an air leak, gravity block number seven is losing velocity. It'll be dragged into the Earth's gravitational field in fourteen minutes!"

"What?" Sergei said in shock. Rinissa was speechless as Sergei went on, "Lieutenant Todlar and I will start on the rescue. Deploy a recovery team for Lieutenant Peries' machine."

"But sir, an object of that mass-!" The soldier objected, on for Rinissa to shout, "We are not going to just sit back and do nothing! People's lives are in danger here!"

Sergei nodded to that and the two machines sped over to the falling gravity block. As they blasted towards the gravity block, Rinissa apologized, "I know that it was out of line for me to say that Colonel, and I'll take full responsibility for it later."

"It's alright Lieutenant, you won't be punished this time. Let's just focus on stopping the gravity block." Sergei told her. Rinissa nodded and the two kept on going towards the gravity block.

Elsewhere, the two Flags were approaching the orbital elevator when Espgarude suddenly said, "Wait, it looks like there's a gravity block from the HRL's orbital elevator heading towards Earth!"

"What? How did that happen?" Hayden asked over the communication line. Espgarude used the Flag's sensors to examine the block as she replied, "It looks like there's damage to the block. I'm not sure what the cause is, but the block is going to enter the Earth's gravitational field within twelve minutes!"

"So we go over there and help right?" Hayden said. Alexi was silent, making Hayden say, "Brother?"

"…Will this affect the mission?" Alexi simply asked. Hayden just groaned, while Espgarude said, "No, and in fact, there are two Tierens approaching the block, and one of them happens to be the new model."

"Okay, then let's head over there." Alexi said. Hayden nodded and the two Flags sped off toward the block. Privately, Espgarude asked, "You were going to go anyway, no matter what I said, right?"

"Yeah, I still have that oath to protect people in me, from my time with the Synchro Soldiers." Alexi replied. Unknown to him, Hayden was listening in and he smiled thinking, 'I guess I should make an oath like that too…'

Back with Sergei and Rinissa, the two maneuvered their machines as both got close to the gravity block. Sergei took a look at the counter and said, "Seven minutes until the escape limit zone. To bring the speed of the block up into orbital velocity, we'll have to accelerate that enormous structure."

As they went down to the block, Rinissa asked, "Are our thrusters going to be enough sir?"

"We don't have a choice in the matter Lieutenant!" Sergei shouted as the two mobile suits got closer to the gravity block. Rinissa thought, 'Yes, we have to, to save those people!'

The two Tierens held out their hands and pushed against the structure. Then both Tierens pushed their thrusters to the max in an effort to stop the block from going further. The block slowed down a bit, but it was still moving towards the Earth, making Sergei say, "Ugh, this block simply has too much mass. Two machines aren't enough to stop it!"

Looking back at the counter, Sergei said, "Two hundred seconds until the escape limit zone. At this rate, both of our machines are going to be caught in the gravitational field as well. Are we just going to abandon them? Over two hundred people? Why does space have to be so cruel…?"

"I won't back down sir," Rinissa told Sergei, "Even if I die, I won't abandon anyone, not like last time…"

"Lieutenant…" Sergei said, wondering what Rinissa meant by her words. Suddenly, their sensors detected something closing in on them fast. Rinissa looked at it and thought, 'What is that, and why wasn't it detected on my radar, unless it's…!'

As the Kyrios approached, Rinissa's sensors went off again and she said, "Sir, there are two more contacts coming in from above as well!"

"What?" Sergei said, "Could they be Gundams?"

As Kyrios approached, he saw that the two Flags were there as well and he said, "It's those Flags…are they going to help too?"

In Alexi's cockpit, Espgarude said, "Twenty seconds until the escape limit zone!"

"Then it's time to go full throttle!" Hayden shouted as both Flags transformed into their mobile suit modes. Sergei saw them approaching and said, "It's those Flags from Taribia! Are they here to help as well?"

Kyrios and the two Flags hit the block at the same time and they pushed their thrusters to the max. The block stopped falling, but they still didn't have enough thrust to push the block back into stable orbit. All they could do was keep it in it's current position as their thrusters kept on going.

Sergei looked over at the situation, and thought, 'Even with five mobile suits, it's still not enough! If only we could do something more before we run out of energy…'

Rinissa looked up at the Flags and thought, 'How nostalgic, but why do I have this weird feeling when I look at that jet black Flag?'

Alexi felt it too and thought, 'Weird, is there someone I know aboard the station? No, now's not the time to think about it.'

That's when everyone heard Allelujah's voice over an international channel saying, "Can you hear me? Everyone, move to the central block."

The other pilots were surprised to hear that, while Hayden said over a private line, "Is that Allelujah Haptism?"

"Yeah, and it sounds like Celestial Being has a plan for this sticky situation." Alexi replied, "Just keep pushing for now and see what happens."

"I repeat, if you don't want to die, move to the center!" Allelujah repeated himself, "There's no time, hurry up!"

Rinissa found Allelujah's voice interesting as she said, "Was that the Gundam pilot's voice just now?"

"It was, but I don't know why he told everyone to move to the center block just now. Maybe Celestial Being is planning something." Sergei replied.

That's when Sergei went on the international channel and said, "Come in Gundam and Flag pilots! This block is going to pass the escape limit zone when our energy supply is going to run out. The three of you better get out of here now before that happens!"

"…I don't know about the two Flag pilots," Allelujah replied, "But for Celestial Being, failure is not an option."

Both Alexi and Hayden nodded to that as Allelujah continued, "And besides, a Gundam Meister is never alone!"

That's when a sudden particle blast from the surface came up and tore through one of the links, separating the right block and making it drift away. Sergei and Rinissa were shocked, while Alexi and Hayden were impressed as Espgarude said, "There's only one Gundam that can shoot like that, Dynames and Lockon Stratos…"

The block got lighter, and after the second shot, the five mobile suits were able to push the block up into a stable orbit. That's when the rescue team arrived and Kyrios backed away, as well as the two Flags, with the jet black Flag saluting both Tierans before the both of them disappeared under Mirage Colloid.

As the rescue crew started to load the people onto the shuttles, Rinissa sighed as Sergei went over to her and asked, "You alright Lieutenant?"

"Yes sir, just a bit overwhelmed." Rinissa replied, "By the way, when are you going to check on Lieutenant Peries?"

"After the rescue work's done. I'm still worried about what happened to her back there." Sergei replied.

"Me too sir. It sounded like the Lieutenant went crazy in the head, to be honest." Rinissa said with a sigh. The two of them kept on watching as the loading was finished, and they went with the rescue team back to the orbital elevator.

With the two Flags, they were heading to the orbital elevator too as Hayden said, "You know, I don't think that we were needed back there. It seems the Gundam Meisters and the Ptolemaios crew cooked up a good plan this time, though I doubt that it was an actual mission."

"That's most likely the case, though I wonder what Allelujah Haptism was thinking when he brought the Kyrios out here." Espgarude said.

"At least we've confirmed a visual on the new Tieren type," Alexi said, "Let's just wait at True Pillar for Lia's orders. I'm sure that she and Serena are still in the middle of her training."

* * *

_Lagrange 5 – asteroid field_

"Whoa! Nearly hit that asteroid!" Serena said as she maneuvered the Glide Testament around an asteroid that she nearly crashed into. Lia shook her head and said, "Serena, please remember that this is a test, not a joyride."

"Sorry Lia." Serena apologized, though a part of her sure didn't sound sorry. Lia sighed and thought, 'Skill is satisfactory for Gundam Meister requirements, however judgment is still questionable at this time…'

Back on the Serenitatis, Neorith and Lufione were processing the data that they were getting from the Testament, with Lufione saying, "Looks like the Glide Pack is working as expected."

"The Glide Pack emphasizes on mobility, the Blade Pack emphasizing on melee combat, and the Artillery Pack focusing on long range battles," Neorith commented, "Lia said to prepare the Testament to be outfitted with the Blade Pack that is to be tested later, and we can't use the Artillery Pack since someone might detect the high energy blasts out here."

"The Testament is coming back to the Serenitatis, prepare for docking." Lufione said. Neorith nodded and said, "Roger that Lufione."

As the Testament was entering the hangar, Lia came on the communication line saying, "Is all the data accounted for?"

"Yes Lia, it's all here. Is Serena alright?" Neorith said. On the other end, Serena answered that, "I'm fine Neorith, though I don't mind going back out for another run."

"Looks like the Blade Pack test is going to go as scheduled." Lia said, with Serena looking a bit eager to go back out. Lia stood behind her thinking, 'Well, I'm sure that those two, along with Espgarude, will do just fine for a little longer…'

* * *

Note: Here's the Armor pack detail that I promised last chapter. Just to note, the Testament is the same as the one from Gundam SEED, so all I'll be giving is the Armor Pack detail.

**ZGMFS/E-X01M Glide Armor Pack** **armament:** 1x "Lupus" Beam Rifle, stored on skirt back under Glide Pack; 2x "Lacerta" Beam Sabers, stored on top of Glide backpack; 2x "Lacerta" Beam Daggers, stored underneath Glide backpack; Anti-Beam Shield mounted on the left arm.

Notes: This pack is more or less a fusion between the Aile Strike Pack and Force Silhouette from Gundam SEED and Destiny. There are six wings instead of the usual four for added mobility in space and in the atmosphere, with the wings having thrusters built into them to add to the mobility.

**ZGMFS/E-X02CC Blade Armor Pack armament:** 2x "Schwert Gewehr" Anti-Ship Short Swords, stored on back behind the shoulders, can be wielded one-handedly each, and can combine into a broadsword-type weapon with a full beam edge (Freedom uses the same swords in this story); 2x "Midas Messer" Beam Boomerangs, stored on both shoulders; 2x "Panzer Eisen" Electric Rocket Anchors, mounted on the forearms and can be used as shields, as well as firing out to grab enemies, can shock them to submission with an electric surge after grab; 2x "Lacerta" Beam Sabers, stored underneath in modified backpack.

Notes: another fusion between the Sword Striker and Sword Silhouette, both arms of the Testament are covered by the pack, and the modified backpack allows it for atmospheric flight, though not as mobile as the Glide pack.

**ZGMFS/E-X03LRHW Artillery Armor Pack armament**: 2x "Agni" Hyper Impulse Cannons, stored on the back, can be hand-carried under the arms or over the shoulders, underhand is a mid range 'shotgun' configuration, over the shoulders is long range energy blasts; 2x "Xiphas" Railguns, stored on waist attached to backpack; 2x Combo Weapons Pods (2x Anti-Ship Vulcan Beam Cannons, 4x Gun-Launchers) mounted on both shoulders; 4x "Gigas" Missile pods, attached to legs (16x missiles per pod).

Notes: I'd admit, this may seem overkill, but even the two Agni cannons' power doesn't seem to compare to the Virtue's GN Bazooka when fired at full power, so adding a few more weapons didn't seem to be a problem. Mobility is severely limited, even though it's flight capable too, so it would stick to the role of giving artillery support.

There you have it, the three Armor pack armaments. I pretty much based them off of my modified Striker Pack designs in my Gundam Seed Destiny story, but with a few additions. Until the next chapter!


	6. Preparation and Infighting

Phase 06 – Preparation and Infighting

_'I've always wondered what would've happened if Aeolia Schenberg didn't recruit us into Celestial Being. Would I and Brother have done things in anger that we would've regretted later? I've always wondered about that, since we were building the Zero Gravity Maneuver Fighter Series for revenge against the world for rejecting our genius work…just thinking about it now gives me shivers at what would've happened if our mobile suits were to wreck havoc on the world…_

_ 'Now, I'm thankful that Aeolia Schenberg recruited us… At least with our work, along with the other scientists, his goal of eradicating war may soon become a reality. He even gave the ZGMF Series a proper name category that I personally think sounds powerful. Mobile Suit Gundam…_

_ 'We're using our skills and minds to make the world a better place, because war is just too sad. I know that it is theoretically impossible to eliminate war, but at least with Aeolia's plan, war would at least become the last resort for many nations and people. I wonder how to make a Gundam look powerful, yet majestic that it would leave a lasting impression on those that see it…'_

_Natalie Kino, a note she made while designing the ZGMFS-X10A Freedom

* * *

_

_Serenitatis – briefing room_

A bit over a week later, Serena was back to an irritated mood, due to being cooped up in the ship the whole time. She couldn't understand Lia when she was told that she would be kept on standby for the time being. Serena didn't like waiting around ever since she was young, and this situation wasn't any different. That's why she called Lia for a private talk, and as she waited she thought, 'Ha, what's taking Lia? For an AI, she sure is late…'

That's when the door opened and Lia walked in saying, "Serena, are you here?"

"Yes Lia, I've been waiting for you," Serena replied, "What took you?"

"I've sent Alexi, Hayden, and Espgarude their orders to wait on standby on Earth near the Union's orbital elevator for the time being, with Espgarude being in charge. I've sent Lufione down with them as well to help Espgarude with a few things." Lia replied.

Serena couldn't help but feel more irritated hearing that, but she managed to remain calm as Lia said, "I take it that this is about me not sending you out on missions and the like?"

That hit the nail right on the head and Serena said, "Why am I still here? Even if you won't let me go out on missions, at least let me go down to the surface to scout or something! I feel useless here…"

Seeing the look of restlessness on Serena's face, Lia looked up for a second before saying, "Look, it's only been about a month and a half since you joined Celestial Being. I know that you're good in a mobile suit, but you still have a bit more to learn before I officially send you out on missions."

Hearing that didn't sit well with Serena, and her anger started to surface, but she used all her willpower to keep it down. She wasn't that stupid enough to lash out at Lia in anger, since her word is final on their side of Celestial Being. She was calm enough to say, "What am I missing then? I'm already an excellent pilot like you say, thanks to _that_, as well as your training, so what more should I do?"

"…Fine. I'll give you one more test. If you pass this, then I'll start making plans for you to join the twins for every mission. Fail, and you'll get a one-month probation from leaving the ship, and you're training is going to increase, got it?" Lia said after consideration.

Serena contemplated that offer, since it went either way, but a part of her was desperate to do something, so she said, "Fine. I'll do it. What is it?"

Lia thought about it for a moment, until something came to her and she said, "A spar with Fon Spark. Defeat him in mobile suit combat and I'll start sending you out on missions."

That surprised Serena as her memory of Fon made her grit her teeth. She said, "Alright, I'll leave it to you then."

As Serena left the room, Lia thought, "That girl, I'm worried, since she still has some issues to deal with, but she's still lacking in a few areas that may compromise her on missions…"

Then Lia left the room saying to herself, "Well, it's time to ask VEDA for permission again… They sure are hard to handle…"

* * *

_Lagrange 5 – asteroid field_

"Hmph, so all I have to do is beat up Serena? Looks like Miss Little Sister got herself into trouble, gyahaha!" Fon said within the cockpit of the Plutone.

"Please don't say anything Fon." Chall said from the inside of the shuttle traveling beside the Gundam. Chall was with Fon since Lia requested her company as well, and she was annoyed that Fon took out the Plutone again instead of the Astraea. She was also partially worried about Serena, and wondered what exactly happened. Things between them may be a bit strained, which she admits that she's partially responsible, but Chall considers Serena someone important to her. She thought back to when she received the message from Lia through VEDA that Fon was to head to Lagrange 5's asteroid field in a Gundam for a spar against Serena, and wondered what Lia was up to.

As they approached the asteroid field, the two saw the Testament in it's Glide configuration waiting for them. Nearby, they saw to their surprise, the Justice beside an asteroid. A communication link opened up to Fon and Chall, showing Neorith in the pilot seat with Lia sitting on her lap. She said, "Glad to see that the two of you made it, but why is Fon in the Plutone? I thought he was supposed to use the Astraea?"

"…VEDA gave him permission." Chall simply replied, not wanting to stay on the subject.

Lia caught onto that, while Fon was itching to get started as he said, "So, is Miss Little Sister ready to be punished?"

"Who's being punished?" Serena asked angrily, her image popping up beside Neorith and Lia's. There was an irritated look on her face as she said, "You were called out here so I can beat you! That's all!"

"Ha! As if a half-baked Gundam Meister like yourself can beat me!" Fon taunted, trying to get Serena angry.

It was starting to work as Serena tried hard not to let Fon get under her skin as she said, "Whatever, let's just get started! Lia!"

Lia just nodded and said, "Alright, here are the rules. The two of you are to keep fighting until either of your Gundams is disabled and unable to fight back. No lethal shots, you got that you two?"

"Right," Serena said dully, while Fon said, "Hey, is that all? Tch, how boring…"

Chall just shook her head as Lia told her, "You'd better come over here Chall."

"Okay." Chall said as she maneuvered the shuttle over to where the Justice was standing by. After that was out of the way, Lia said, "Okay, the two of you can begin!"

At that instant, Serena took out the Testament's beam rifle and started firing at the Plutone, making Fon dodge. As she watched Lia thought, 'Now this is ironic, Serena going up against the Gundam that Chall used to pilot.'

Chall had similar thoughts as the Plutone started firing back, while dodging the shots from the Testament. Fon taunted, "Ha, are even trying to hit me Little Sister?"

"Stop calling me that!" Serena shouted angrily, as she started focusing her shots, while maintaining her distance from the Plutone. Fon saw that the shots were starting to get better as he started to block them with his shield while thinking, 'Whew, she sure got better fast! This is quite interesting!'

The Plutone kept on dodging and blocking the Testament's shots, while the Plutone shot back, making the shots bounce off the Testament's shield. Serena decided to change tactics by closing in on the Plutone, making full use of it's enhanced mobility.

Seeing the change in tactics, Fon smirked as he too closed in on the Testament while still firing. When the two Gundams were close enough, both stored their beam rifles and took out their beam sabers, and clashed against each other in a deadlock. That's when Fon said, "I gotta wonder how it would feel for you to be defeated by the Gundam that your sister piloted!"

Chall was shocked to hear that and she said, "What…but how…?"

"It's funny how talking to Aleyris can be very informative," Fon said, hearing Chall's voice, "She sure likes talking about parts of her past, gyahahaha!"

Serena meanwhile, was a bit shaken to hear that her sister used to pilot the Plutone, and that caused her to drop her guard for a moment. Fon took advantage of that and the Plutone pushed the Testament back, even managing to slice off the Testament's shield arm in the process. He aimed for the other arm, but Serena kicked at the Plutone's torso to push it back, and threw away her beam saber to whip out a pair of beam daggers. She threw them at the Plutone, which were stabbed by it's shield to block, while Serena whipped out the beam rifle during the distraction. Serena then fired off a quick shot, which Fon was too slow to react to and it pierced the Plutone's left shoulder joint, blowing it's shield arm off.

Fon was taken aback by the sudden action as he moved the Plutone away, dodging the Testament's shots. He smirked saying, "So the Little Sister's got some skill huh? This makes things much more interesting!"

Chall kept on watching the fight, and it brought back memories of her time as a Gundam Meister. Lia noticed, due to the constant communication connection and asked, "Chall, you alright?"

"Eh? Ah, I'm fine Lia, just some past memories, that's all." Chall assured her. That's when they saw something flash and when they turned to see, they saw that the Testament's left leg was taken out by a beam shot from the Plutone's rifle. The Testament fired back, but Fon managed to dodge the shots while laughing at Serena.

Getting fed up with all of her shots missing, not to mention Fon's laugh, Serena stored away her rifle and took out her other beam saber, going in for another melee. To everyone's amazement, Serena was blocking half of the particle shots fired at her with her beam saber, making Lia think, 'So, this is why VEDA recommended her. Even with the pre-training and augmentation, as well as the training that I've been making her go through, to be able to do something like that at this stage…however…'

Fon gave a smirk and said, "Now that's surprising! But-!" The Plutone took out it's own beam saber and charged right towards the Testament, "You still can't beat me!"

"We'll see about that!" Serena shouted angrily. The two Gundams engaged in a fierce melee, with the end result being the Testament losing it's other arm in an evasion attempt by Serena.

Serena couldn't believe the situation that she was in and she tried firing the CIWS, but the bullets simply bounced off the Plutone's armor. That's when Fon pointed his beam saber towards the Testament's neck saying, "You give up, or do I have to dismember you completely for you to get the point?"

When Serena was about to say something, she caught Lia's look on her monitor which said, 'You keep on going, and I'll extend the probation period.' She shook her head and said quietly, "I give…"

"Alright, then that settles it." Lia said, "Fon wins this little engagement, so let's head back to the Serenitatis for those repairs."

The Justice flew over to pick up the fallen limbs and after that was done, everyone headed towards the Serenitatis, with the Justice in the lead. Looking at the damage the Testament sustained, Lia thought, 'Maybe it was a bad choice to send Lufione down to Earth, it looks like this is going to take a while…'

Inside the Testament, Serena was quiet as she went over the fight in her mind, while the Gundam was on autopilot heading for the Serenitatis. Chall contacted her in concern and asked, "Serena, are you alright?"

Serena didn't even bother to look towards Chall as she was unresponsive, making Chall ask, "Serena?"

"…Please leave me alone Sis…" Serena said in an unusually subdued tone. Chall was about to say something when she took note of how down Serena sounded, and all she could do was close the communication link between them. Chall sighed and thought, '…What can I do…?'

* * *

_Union Orbital Elevator – Linear Train compartment_

Sumeragi, Christina, and Feldt were traveling down to the surface for the big operation in Moralia, and were currently talking about it. When Christina turned to Feldt, she noticed a chain that was part of a necklace and asked, "Oh? What's that around your neck Feldt?"

"What?" Feldt said, looking up in surprise. Christina leaned over and carefully pulled out the flower necklace out from under her shirt, making Feldt say, "Chris!"

Both Sumeragi and Christina were surprised to see Feldt wearing the emerald flower necklace and Christina said, "Wow Feldt, this is beautiful! Where did you get it?"

"…From someone important…" Feldt replied after a moment of thought.

Sumeragi was a bit curious when she heard that as Christina went on, "Oh? Someone important? Is it a boy…?"

At that, Feldt tried to remember, but it wouldn't come to her as she replied, "I…can't remember. All I know is that someone important gave it to me…"

Christina wanted to ask more, but seeing the look on Feldt's face made her back off as Feldt put the necklace back down her shirt. Sumeragi thought, 'Well, that was interesting. Though I do wonder about Feldt sometimes… That girl can take things a bit too seriously at times.'

* * *

_Serenitatis – bridge_

Lia and Chall were on the bridge with the others back in the hangar repairing the Gundams. Chall was a bit worried about leaving Serena with Fon, but after seeing her unusually subdued attitude, she ordered Fon not to bother her. Now Chall was helping Lia with some of the work when Lia received a message from VEDA. Opening it, Lia read that there was an armed intervention planned for Moralia, and VEDA was actually recommending using it as a way to test Setsuna and Tieria.

When Chall looked at it, she was surprised as well, while Lia said, "I guess I don't have much of a choice in this matter, since VEDA strongly recommends it."

"You're doing the same thing as that time in Taribia?" Chall asked her.

"Yes, and just to let you know, we're not going to be actually interfering with the intervention," Lia assured her, "Once I get Sumeragi Lee Noriega's mission plan from VEDA, I'll make adjustments to my own. Do you want to help Chall?"

Chall raised an eyebrow before saying, "…Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to help out this once…"

"Oh, thank you very much Chall. You're still such a good girl, no matter how much time has passed." Lia said with a giggle.

A slight blush formed on Chall's cheeks as she said, "Please don't tease me like that Lia."

Both of them smiled as they went to work, with Lia taking a quick look at what's happening in the hangar. Seeing that everything was under control, Lia brought up the data on Moralia so she could start forming her mission plan.

* * *

_City surrounding the Union's orbital elevator – city streets_

Espgarude and Lufione were walking around the city with bags in their hands, heading back to the hotel where the both of them and the twins were currently staying at. That's when Espgarude's communicator beeped and she opened it to see what it was. Reading it, Espgarude said, "Looks like Lia has a mission plan for Alexi and Hayden. Let's hurry back to the hotel Lufione."

"Okay." Lufione said, as the two hurried their pace back to the hotel. As they ran, Lufione bumped into someone, causing her to drop the bags and fall backwards with an, "Eeek!"

Looking over, Espgarude wondered why Lia never fixed that glitch in Lufione that caused her to act surprised whenever something unexpected happened. She went over to Lufione while saying, "I'm so sorry about that!"

"It's okay…" A girl's voice replied. Then another girl's voice said, "Hey Feldt, are you-? Oh my gosh, those outfits are so cute!"

"Huh?" Espgarude said in confusion. Helping Lufione up, the two turned to see Christina and Feldt in front of them, and the two recognized them from the data of the Ptolemaios crew that Lia had obtained. Pretending not to know them, Espgarude said, "I'm sorry Miss, are you alright?"

"I'm fine…" Feldt said as she stood up with Christina's help. As the two pairs picked up their bags, Christina was eyeing Espgarude and Neorith's clothes as she helped Feldt pick up the bags that she dropped. That made Espgarude ask, "Is something on my face Miss?"

Christina blushed with embarrassment as she said, "Oh no no! I was just admiring your outfit Miss!"

"Why thank you! Just to let you know, this was personally made for me, so you won't find it anywhere else, down to the beret." Espgarude told Christina.

Both Feldt and Christina raised an eyebrow as Espgarude and Lufione finished picking up their bags. Then the two androids bowed and said, "We're very sorry about this, but we need to get going."

Espgarude and Lufione ran off, leaving Christina and Feldt behind. The two had finished picking up their own bags and said enthusiastically, "Let's head back to the hotel Feldt, I want you to help me with these!"

"Oh man…" Feldt moaned, already tired from being dragged around by Christina shopping for clothes.

* * *

_Serenitatis – bridge_

Later, after Lia sent her mission plan, she sent Chall and Fon back to their base after the Plutone's arm was fixed. Serena was silent the entire time and both Lia and Chall tried to talk to her, but she brushed them off as she worked on her Gundam. Lia gave a sigh when she remembered that, thinking, 'Jeez, it makes it look like I should be the parent here…'

Lia was waiting for the Moralian mission plan from VEDA so she could cement her own plan, when Neorith walked onto the bridge. She said, "The Testament's repairs are coming along steadily, and with Haro's help, it'll probably take a week around the clock…"

"I'll help too, and what's Serena doing right now?" Lia inquired.

"She's in her room right now, after helping with the Plutone's repairs." Neorith told her, "Truth be told Lia, she's probably upset that she lost so badly."

There was a moment of silence before Lia said, "Well, we can't do much about the repairs now, so we'll just have to wait until the others get back up here."

"Roger that Lia." Neorith said as she left the bridge, leaving Lia by herself. She sighed and said, "How can things get so complicated so easily…"

* * *

_Serenitatis – Serena's room_

Serena was by herself on her bed looking up at the ceiling, though her mind was elsewhere. She kept on replaying the battle over and over again, trying to figure out where she went wrong. Now she was confined to stay on this ship for another month due to her loss, and that didn't sit well with her. She thought, 'What happened out there, to be defeated by the likes of him…'

She remembered Fon's taunting and realized that a part of her had given in to those taunts, and saw how that blurred her judgment. Seeing that she needed to work on her temper, Serena laid back on her bed and started to think to herself.

Outside, Lia was about to knock, but decided against it at the last second and walked away thinking, 'She needs to be alone for a while… Well, might as well get back to finish planning the mission.'

With that, Serena was left by herself to think things over, and Lia went back to the bridge to finalize her mission plan. She knew that the Flags appearing in AEU territory will cause a ruckus, and decided to work on that too. All in all, Lia knew that she was going to be on the bridge for quite a while…

* * *

Note: Chapters 3-5 have been slightly edited after a few mistakes were pointed out. A short chapter, and an odd one if I do say so myself. If you have a hard time understanding it then I don't really blame you, I thought that too during editing… Well, next chapter is going to be about the Moralian intervention, so until then!


	7. The Second Test

Phase 07 – The Second Test

_Moralia – military HQ vicinity_

As Celestial Being's armed intervention started in Moralia, Alexi and Hayden were on standby, waiting near the Moralian military HQ in their Flags, hidden under Mirage Colloid. Waiting on top of a cliff, Hayden asked, "Hey brother, how much longer do we have to wait? It's been three hours already…"

"Not long, the last phase of the plan should be starting soon. The Gundams are probably going through the gorge right now." Alexi told Hayden as he was busy making sure that the sniper barrel add-on that Lia sent along with Lufione was working for his beam rifle. That's when Espgarude and Lufione appeared on their monitors, with Espgarude saying, "The Gundams have entered the gorge. Estimated time of arrival is seven minutes."

"Roger that Espgarude, moving towards firing point." Alexi said as he moved his Flag.

"Lufione, has any new orders come in from Lia?" Hayden asked.

"No, your mission objectives are still the same Hayden." Lufione replied as she processed data.

"Roger that." Hayden said as the twins cut the com-link. As they waited, both twins thought back to when Lia's orders finally came in a few days ago.

* * *

_Flashback – Union Hotel_

_"So that's the plan?" Alexi asked the two androids. Espgarude nodded and said, "Yes, and Lia will send a more detailed plan tomorrow before the mission actually starts."_

_"Hmm, so Alexi battles the Exia, while I go after the Virtue… Sounds good, though is it a good idea to send Alexi after Setsuna? The Exia's a melee type, so wouldn't I be a more suitable opponent, since Alexi's more of a shooter?" Hayden inquired._

_"Lia said that the engagements were suitable to teach both sides, whatever that means." Lufione replied._

_There was a moment of silence before Alexi asked, "So, when do we head out to Moralia?"_

_"Tomorrow morning in your Flags," Espgarude replied, "The sniper barrel add-on that came with Lufione will be outfitted later, so please make the proper reconfigurations before you fight."_

_"I understand." Alexi said with a nod. Hayden nodded too and Espgarude said, "Now that's settled, you two better turn in for the night. We'll handle everything else."_

_"Right." The twins said simultaneously. As the both of them headed for bed, Alexi said, "Thanks Espgarude, Lufione."_

_"It's what we do." Espgarude said with a smile as she and Lufione headed for the door. Alexi nodded as they left the hotel room to head to where the Flags were hidden. As they walked, Lufione asked, "Why didn't you tell them about what happened earlier?"_

_"It wasn't necessary." Espgarude simply replied. Lufione just looked forward saying, "I see…"_

_What they didn't know was that Alexi and Hayden were at the door and heard what they said, making Hayden ask, "What were they talking about?"_

_"I don't know, and I guess it wasn't important enough that they need to tell us." Alexi said. He went over to his bed saying, "Let's just rest for now. We're going to suffer from serious jet lag when we reach Moralia."_

_"Ugh, not looking forward to that…" Hayden moaned as the two of them went to sleep._

* * *

Present time

As Alexi got into firing position, Hayden asked, "Hey, what do you thing Serena's doing right now?"

"Probably bored out of her mind," Alexi replied while checking the computer's targeting system, "She lost to Fon, so as punishment she's on probation and is forbidden from leaving the Serenity."

"…Ouch…" Hayden commented, "I bet she's having a fit not being able to leave the ship."

"I don't think so," Alexi said, "From what I've heard from Espgarude, she's been quiet after her loss against Fon, but I doubt that will last for long."

"Yeah, we've only known here for a month or so, but what we do know is that she's not the quiet type on anything, except sleeping." Hayden said with a smirk.

Alexi smiled at that too as he said, "Okay, let's just keep our eyes peeled for the Gundams for now. We can worry about stuff like that later."

"Roger that." Hayden replied, sounding a bit amused. Cutting the com-link, Alexi thought, 'I may be a decent shot, but compared to Lockon Stratos…'

* * *

_MSWAD Base – observation room_

Inside the room, everyone was looking at the damage that Moralia had taken from the Gundams and Graham commented, "The Gundams are just too much…"

Brandon looked at the screen and thought, 'Are those Gundams made to take on armies or something? They really are too much…'

Alissa was looking at the screen too, while taking glances at everyone in the room to see their reactions. She thought, 'So far, the Gundams continue to make an impression on everyone.'

That's when Alissa took a look at the Professor and thought, 'Ralph Eifman, he may become an asset to Celestial Being. He already figured out the concept behind the GN Particles, something that most scientists would have trouble figuring out. I'll discuss this matter with Lia later…'

* * *

_Serenitatis – Serena's room_

Serena was sitting on top of her bed, watching the Moralian intervention on the monitor opposite to her bed. She had recovered from the battle with Fon and was nearly back to her old self, just being quiet and keeping to herself. Watching the Gundams fight the Moralian armies, she thought, 'Ugh, this is going to be torture… I even heard that Lia's getting a GT Flag built for me as well, and I can't even use it when it gets here…'

That's when the door opened, and to Serena's surprise, the silver blue Haro rolled in saying, "Hi Serena! Hi Serena!"

"…Haro? What are you doing here?" Serena asked in surprise, since her door was supposed to be locked. The silver Haro replied while flapping it's wings, "Keep you company! Keep you company!"

Getting up and going over to pick up the Haro, Serena just smiled and said, "Thanks Haro, but shouldn't you be with Lia and Neorith repairing the Testament?"

"Repairs delayed, repairs delayed!" Haro replied, "Wait until others come back! Wait until others come back!"

Serena sat back down on her bed and said, "So the repairs are that bad that Lia and Neorith can't fix it, even with my help…"

"Don't worry, don't worry!" Haro chirped, trying to cheer Serena up. All she did was nod and said, "I'll be fine, let's just watch and see what happens next with the Gundams."

"Roger, roger!" Haro said, flying out of Serena's arms and floating in her room, bouncing off the walls. Giggling at the sight, she just let Haro bounce around as she continued to watch the monitor.

Outside the room, Lia and Neorith were standing together, and when Lia saw that Serena was perfectly fine, she motioned to Neorith for the two of them to leave. Neorith nodded and floated down the hall, heading towards the bridge. When they were far enough Neorith said, "So you think that the one-month probation will be alright for her?"

"Hmm, I'm a nice person, so if Serena shows signs of improvement and good behavior, I might lessen the sentence." Lia said with a smile.

Neorith looked at Lia before saying, "You sound like you sent her to prison Lia…"

"Hmm, I guess I did." Lia said before giggling. Neorith shook her head and thought, 'And this is the AI that created us? Oh boy…'

* * *

_Moralia – military HQ_

With Alexi in position, he and Hayden were waiting for the Gundams to show up when Hayden asked, "Hey, if we're here to test the Exia and Virtue, then how do we prevent the Dynames and Kyrios from interfering."

"We're just going to have to fend them off while fighting our opponents," Alexi replied, "Lia could ask VEDA to disable Dynames and Kyrios, but that would lead to too many questions and might leak our existence to the Ptolemaios crew."

Hayden didn't like that prospect and it made him say, "If only Serena were here to stall them…"

"Her GT Flag won't be ready for a few days, and sending it to the Serenity would take long. We're just going to have to follow our mission plan. Let's just hope it goes as planned…" Alexi said.

That's when the four Gundams showed up on their radar and Hayden said, "Looks like they're here. Let's see what they can do."

The base's Hellions all came out and started firing at the incoming Gundams, and the Virtue came in and tore a line through the formations with it's GN Bazooka. After that the other Gundams came in and after five minutes of fighting, all of the base's mobile suits were defeated. Seeing this made Alexi said, "Was this a battle, or a slaughter…?"

"You can say that again." Hayden said, in awe of the power of the four Gundams.

Alexi quickly focused his aim at the Exia's feet as he quickly went over Lia's instructions, 'First, after the signal to surrender is sent to the Gundams, fire a warning shot at the Exia's feet.'

When Alexi saw the signal flare of surrender fly from the Moralian HQ, Alexi said, "Taking the shot!"

Down below, a blast of green energy exploded at the Exia's feet, making the four mobile suits back away with Allelujah saying, "What was that?"

"It came from there!" Lockon said, pointing his GN Sniper Rifle towards the spot where Alexi and Hayden were standing under Mirage Colloid. Quickly taking aim, Lockon fired on the spot but he hit nothing, as the two Flags deactivated Mirage Colloid, revealing themselves to the Gundams.

Tieria narrowed his eyes and said, "It's those Flags… It looks like Sumeragi Lee Noriega's prediction was right after all…"

Alexi took another aim with his rifle and fired, this time at the Virtue, who simply just raised the GN Field to protect itself. He narrowed his eyes as he removed the sniper barrel attachment from his beam rifle and attached it to his side, while he and Hayden moved in towards them, dodging the particle beams from the four Gundams.

Lockon and Allelujah were firing at the two Flags, with Lockon saying, "It looks like Miss Sumeragi was right when she predicted that those Flags might make an appearance. Destroy on sight huh? It's sad really; maybe we could've recruited them for Celestial Being…"

Tieria narrowed his eyes from hearing that as he prepared the Virtue's GN Cannons to fire on the two Flags. The particle blast shot towards the two Flags, but they dodged the blast and kept on going forward. That's when Setsuna went forward, shooting at them with his GN Sword making Lockon say, "Hey Setsuna, get back here!"

Alexi saw this and blasted forward towards the Exia firing his beam rifle, which Setsuna dodged out of the way. Snapping the GN Sword into position, Setsuna charged forward towards the Flags, making Alexi say, "Setsuna F. Seiei, thank you for coming to me instead of the other way around!"

Putting his Flag's beam rifle on it's hip, Alexi took out a beam saber and charged towards the Exia, making the two clash in a melee. The others concentrated on firing on Hayden since Setsuna could be caught in the crossfire, though Tieria considered shooting right through Setsuna, since he was still pissed off from before. Hayden kept on dodging as he made his way towards Tieria, firing off shots towards the Dynames and Kyrios to keep them back.

Lockon seemed to realize what was going on and shouted, "Tieria, heads up! That Flag is heading right towards you!"

Tieria seemed a bit shaken by that, but he focused and aimed his GN Bazooka saying, "I destroy that Flag before that happens!" The GN Bazooka lit up before firing off a shot towards Hayden, who dodged it and put his beam rifle to his Flag's hip.

Seeing the crimson Flag dodge his particle blast, Tieria muttered, 'Impossible…' and maneuvered for another shot. However Hayden pushed the Flag to it's top speed, making Lockon and Allelujah's shots miss and shout, "Tieria!"

Before Tieria could do anything, Hayden swiftly maneuvered his Flag and tackled the Virtue from it's right with such force, that the mobile suit was actually lifted up from the ground before falling backwards. As the Flag quickly pulled back and drew a beam saber as the Dynames and Kyrios fired upon him. Taking a quick look at the arm he used to tackle the Virtue, Hayden saw that there was a dent at the point of contact, despite the Phase Shift Armor. He thought to himself, 'Dang, never expected to get a dent from the Virtue, with this Phase Shift reinforced E-Carbon armor.'

Tieria managed to get the Virtue back on it's feet as he saw the crimson Flag coming in for another round. Gritting his teeth, Tieria threw the GN Bazooka to the side and took out a beam saber stored in one of the knees, surprising Lockon, Allelujah, and Hayden. Tieria readied his saber and thought, 'I will not be defeated here!'

Up above, Alexi and Setsuna were engaging in a fierce melee, with Setsuna trying to hit Alexi with the GN Sword, but Alexi kept on dodging it, making Setsuna think, 'This pilot's good, just like that Flag that attacked me back then.'

The Exia made a downward slash, but to Setsuna's surprise, Alexi blocked the GN Sword with his Flag's revolving shield, and Alexi prayed that the GN Sword wouldn't cut through the Phase Shift-reinforced shield like a hot knife through butter. Luckily, it didn't and it actually surprised Setsuna even more as he pulled back and flipped back the blade and taking out a pair of beam sabers instead.

Allelujah went over to support Tieria, while Lockon was trying to get a proper lock on Alexi's Flag, but due to being in close proximity with the Exia, he couldn't get a clear shot. He grunted in frustration as he whispered, "Shoot, I can't get a lock on that Flag… All I can do is wait for the chance to take it out." He looked over to see Allelujah take out a beam saber and assisted Tieria in fending off the crimson Flag and thought, 'Damn, even if Miss Sumeragi predicted that they'd show up, it's a different story when we actually fight them!'

* * *

_Wang Liu Mei's residence (earlier)_

"Miss Sumeragi, the two Flags have shown up, just like you predicted!" Christina reported while processing the data.

"So they did show up," Sumeragi mused, "Put up the visuals on the monitor."

"Yes Ma'am." Feldt replied, typing in commands as the video feed appeared on the monitor, showing the two Flags. Wang Liu Mei looked at them with interest and said, "So those are the Flags that are said to be on par with the Gundams…"

Watching the fight, Sumeragi had predicted that Alexi's Flag was more based on range combat, and had the Exia go and engaged them with Dynames providing support. The Kyrios would tie up Hayden's Flag in a fight, giving the chance for the Virtue to blow it out of the sky with it's particle cannons. What she didn't expect was for the crimson Flag to make a beeline for the Virtue before the Kyrios could get off the ground. She thought, 'That Flag's faster than it was shown last time… What exactly are we dealing with?'

"What are your orders Miss Sumeragi?" Christina asked, a bit worried about the situation.

"There is no change in the mission plan, but if the four Gundam Meisters can't defeat the Flags in the next eight minutes, then they are to retreat from the battlefield." Sumeragi ordered.

Everyone was surprised at that, but both Feldt and Christina replied, "Yes Miss Sumeragi."

Wang Liu Mei looked at Sumeragi with a hint of surprise and asked, "Are you sure that's wise Miss Sumeragi?"

"Those Flags are completely different from the Union's and we still don't have accurate data on them. If they can destroy those Flags, then that's good, but the risk of severe damage to the Gundams is high the longer they stay." Sumeragi explained.

"I see…" Wang Liu Mei said, turning her attention back to the screen, where it showed the Exia and the jet black Flag in a swordfight.

* * *

_Moralian Military HQ – command room (around the time of the surrender)_

The Commander of the base was shocked at what just happened. As soon as they gave the signal flare to surrender, all of the base's surveillance systems had shut down, meaning that they were blind to what was going on outside, unless someone actually went outside to look. Communications were down as well, along with a number of other systems, making the Commander say, "What's going on, what happened here?"

"I don't know sir," One of the operators said, "Surveillance and communication systems are down, and the exits have all been sealed. We're pretty much under lockdown sir."

'How the heck did this happen? Is it another ploy by Celestial Being?' The Commander thought. Hearing a number of explosions surprised the others in the room, making the Commander think, 'What the heck was that? Another kind of attack, or has the PMC sent machines to help?'

* * *

_Moralian city – hotel room_

"Whew, it looks like hacking the Moralian military HQ was a success, though I don't think it will help much." Espgarude said as she finished typing on the computer in front of her.

Both Espgarude and Lufione were sitting in front of terminals like the ones that Feldt and Christina were using. Espgarude had just finished disabling the HQ's systems and placed the building on lockdown, while bouncing their signal off of every computer in Moralia to throw off those that would try to track down their location.

Lufione, who was monitoring the battle situation, said, "Would that really help? I mean, Lia knows that this is going to leak out somehow, and the AEU will start asking a lot of questions."

"I don't know what Lia's thinking, but she wants as little physical evidence as possible for some reason. The surviving pilots' testimonies we can't stop, but if things get out of hand, Lia has a plan that will finally put a stop to the accusations towards the Union." Espgarude told Lufione.

"She plans on making Alexi and Hayden attack Union Bases?" Lufione asked, thought it sounded more like a statement then a question.

Espgarude nodded and said, "That's the idea, but Lia hasn't hammered out the details yet."

Lufione just nodded before she went back to monitoring the battle, where she just saw Hayden's Flag give a kick to the Kyrios' head while dodging a blast from the Virtue's GN Cannons. Espgarude saw that too and said, "Come back alive you two…"

* * *

_Moralian military HQ – battlefield_

In the sky, the jet black Flag and the Exia were still fighting each other with their beam sabers, with both mobile suits having various light gashes on their frames, though Alexi's Flag has a few more than the Exia. Setsuna was surprised to see how skilled Alexi was, and Alexi was impressed with Setsuna's piloting, however he saw that it was unpolished in a few areas as the Flag pushed the Exia back and gave it a kick to the chest, sending it falling backwards.

Lockon took that chance to fire a shot towards the Flag, and Alexi only had a split second to block the shot with his revolving shield, turning it into a scarred stick attached to the Flag's arm. Alexi had to dodge the other shots as Setsuna regained his position and went after the Flag for a second time.

Alexi dodged the Dynames' shots until a warning in his cockpit showed the Exia heading right towards him, beam saber raised. Alexi blocked the incoming slash with his own saber as he thought, 'I hope Hayden's having a better time than me…'

'I bet Alexi's having a better time than me!' Hayden thought in a panic as he punched the Virtue in the face while fending off the Kyrios with a beam saber. The Gundam Meister was sweating buckets from all the maneuvers that he had to do to dodge the attacks of the two Gundams. Five minutes have passed, but against the Kyrios and Virtue, it felt like three hours to Hayden.

The Virtue had a number of slight gashes on it's armor from the beam slashes from the Flag's saber, and a burn mark from a beam rifle shot on it's knee plate. The Kyrios had a number of scratches on it, as well as a few light saber burns, but nothing serious. The Dynames was for the most part undamaged, thought there was what looked like a welded burn mark on it's shroud, from Hayden's beam rifle to distract the Dynames, thought that resulted in Hayden having his beam rifle vaporized by one of the Virtue's particle blasts when he stopped focusing on the Virtue for a few seconds.

Hayden was now using hit and run tactics against the Virtue, and Tieria was starting to get annoyed by it. The purple-haired Gundam Meister admitted that Hayden's skill as a pilot was great, and that strengthened his resolve to destroy the GT Flags to ensure the safety of the plan, though using the GN Field to stave off half of Hayden's attacks made him a sitting duck. Allelujah was trying to hit Hayden, especially when Tieria's GN Field was up, but couldn't put a proper lock on his Flag.

Only six minutes have passed when Alexi contacted Hayden and said, "We'd better leave this airspace now. Any more and we risk serious damage to either our Flags or the Gundams, worst case the destruction of our Flags."

Alexi was actually expecting a slight disapproval from Hayden before agreeing to retreat, but to his surprise, his younger brother said in a tired voice, "I agree, anymore and I might lose an arm and beam saber next."

Giving a nod, Alexi contacted the two androids and said, "Okay then. Espgarude, Lufione, we're leaving this airspace, anymore fighting would be dangerous."

"Roger that Alexi, you have permission." Espgarude said on the other end.

In another dead lock with the Exia, the jet black Flag acted by giving the Gundam a kick to the side, catching it by surprise and allowing Alexi to retreat and disappear using Mirage Colloid. Hayden fell back after giving the Kyrios and Virtue the slip and before Dynames could get a lock on him, he activated Mirage Colloid and disappeared from the battlefield.

The four Gundam just stood there for a second before Lockon said, "We'd better hightail it out of here you guys. Head towards the rendezvous point."

"Roger." The other three Gundam Meisters said as their Gundams retreated from the battlefield. Everyone was deep in their thoughts at what had just happened but they all had the same thought at one point; that Ian Vashti wouldn't be pleased about the current condition the Gundams, especially the Exia and Virtue, were in.

* * *

_Wang Liu Mei's residence_

"It looks like the Flags retreated using that special stealth system of theirs Miss Sumeragi." Christina reported.

"The Gundams are falling back towards the designated rendezvous point, but it looks like the Exia and Virtue have minor damages." Feldt reported, surprised at what was coming in.

"Are they still deployable?" Sumeragi asked. Feldt nodded and said, "Yes, none of the weapons were damaged and the damages are nothing more than light gouges and burns on the E-Carbon armor."

"I see…" Sumeragi said. She gave a sigh of relief as Wang Liu Mei said, "Well Miss Sumeragi, that was well done."

"We did have one outrageous incident however, not to mention the appearance of those Flags." Sumeragi told her.

"I know that, but despite those incidents, the plan unfolded almost exactly as VEDA had predicted, even counting on the appearance of those Flags." Wang Liu Mei assured her.

"Personally, sometimes I wish things didn't go as predicted." Sumeragi said. She then thought, 'Like the damaged Exia and Virtue sustained. I didn't think that was possible…'

Wang Liu Mei looked surprised at that and asked, "Why is that?"

Dodging the question, Sumeragi said, "We're heading out, please take care of all the equipment for me please."

"Right, I'll get right on that." Wang Liu Mei replied, as Sumeragi walked away towards the exit. She suddenly stopped and asked, "Wang Liu Mei, do you know how many lives were sacrificed in this mission?"

"No…" Wang Liu Mei replied. Sumeragi turned to her and said regretfully, "According to my forecast, there were at least five hundred lost…"

"But surely, when you joined Celestial Being, you knew something like this was going to happen." Wang Liu Mei told her.

"I knew alright, yes, all too well…" Sumeragi said as she walked out of the room. Both Christina and Feldt were worried about her before they returned to finishing up their duties.

* * *

_MSWAD Base – cafeteria_

Brandon was sitting by himself having dinner, since the intervention in Moralia was over. He was going over the details in his head by himself when Alissa went up to him with coffee in hand. She asked, "Mind if I sit here?"

"Please go ahead." Brandon said with a nod, before he went back to eating his dinner. Alissa sat down beside him and the first thing she said was, "That business in Moralia was brutal, wasn't it."

"I agree with that." Brandon said after gulping down whatever was in his mouth, "Moralia and the AEU were just plain beaten in five hours. Even with the Gundams, you would've thought that the battle would take at least a day."

Alissa nodded at that, though inside she thought, 'I need to check in with Lia. See what really happened over there.'

Brandon noticed Alissa spacing out and asked, "Hey Alissa, are you alright?"

"Hmm? I'm fine Lieutenant, just thinking to myself." Alissa replied with a smile.

Seeing Alissa's smile made Brandon blush a bit as he returned to eating his dinner. After finishing, he asked, "So where's Professor Eifman?"

"He's with Graham and Billy discussing about the Moralian incident." Alissa simply replied. Brandon nodded in understanding before saying, "Celestial Being, wonder what their real goal is?"

If Alissa were a human being, she would've been taken aback by the sudden question, but all she did was take another sip of her coffee and ask, "What makes you say that? Didn't they already say that their goal was to eliminate war?"

"That's impossible." Brandon simply stated. When Alissa raised an eyebrow, Brandon explained, "My former commander of the Synchro Squad said something to us once. He said that opposites exist so that they could give each other meaning. War exists because peace does and vice-versa. If war would cease to exist, then peace would lose it's meaning."

Alissa found that outlook quite surprising, since she had the impression that Alexi was simply a soldier and pilot when he came back to Celestial Being. Brandon went on, "Not to mention that it's theoretically impossible to eliminate war in general, which makes everyone think that there's something else going on here."

'I must admit, humans are smarter than they are credited for, though the other goals of Celestial Being are locked and encrypted within Lia's mainframe, along with a number of data files so even we don't know much. I wonder why Aeolia Schenberg and the others did that to LIASS though…' Alissa thought to herself.

"Hmm, that may be true, but the only ones to know that are Celestial Being." Alissa said as she finished her coffee.

Brandon just nodded, while Alissa noted, 'I know that Lia gave our artificial bodies the ability to consume food, and store it in a container, but cleaning ourselves out is such a pain at times…'

* * *

_Uninhabited island_

The four Gundams arrived at the hideout on the island, with Ian waiting for them. When he saw the damages on the four Gundams, particularly on the Exia and Virtue, he shouted, "What the heck did you guys do out there?"

Ian mentally added, 'This reminds me of the time when Aleyris took the Sadalsuud out on a mission and came back looking like she got chewed out and spat out on the battlefield. Ha… Linda and I haven't seen that girl for a while now, Chall too… I hope they're doing fine right now.'

The four Gundams landed on the island and the four Gundam Meisters got out of their cockpits. When they walked forward to Ian, Setsuna walked past the man with Lockon shouting, "Setsuna, get back here!"

Setsuna ignored Lockon and kept on walking, making Ian asked, "What happened?"

"The kid pulled off a stupid stunt during the intervention." Lockon said with irritation.

"He opened his cockpit hatch and nearly revealed himself to an enemy." Tieria added, also looking irritated like Lockon.

Ian shook his head and said, "Oh boy, this is going to be a headache. Mind telling me what happened out there?" He pointed to the four Gundams standing behind them with his thumb.

Allelujah, who was the only one who looked calm, replied, "Those Flags from Taribia did that."

"The ones with the beam weaponry?" Ian asked, sounding intrigued. He had heard about them from Sumeragi earlier and that the first engagement came off with no damages. Now he was seeing the states of the four Gundams and figured that the two Flags went all out on them and wondered what the conditions of the two Flags were in, if they weren't outright destroyed.

Lockon nodded and explained, "Those two Flags attacked us as soon as the Moralian military surrendered to us. The jet black one engaged Setsuna, while the crimson one went after the Virtue."

"That explains the gashes." Ian said. Tieria took a step forward and asked, "How long will the repairs on the Gundams take?"

"Judging on the damages, it will only take a few days, since Dynames and Kyrios are in better condition then the Exia and Virtue." Ian replied with a calculating eye on the Gundams.

Tieria just nodded and walked off, still in a bad mood about Setsuna. Lockon nodded and said, "Alright old man, we'll leave the repairs to you. After a quick break I'm going to knock some sense into that kid."

Both Allelujah and Ian looked at Lockon for a second before he walked away. Allelujah followed him soon afterwards, giving Ian a nod before walking off. Ian just sighed and rubbed his forehead thinking, 'Rudio and the others were easier to deal with then this… I just hope things will ease up internally as the plan progresses.'

That's when Haro rolled up to Ian saying, "Problems? Problems?"

"Oh Haro, did Lockon leave behind?" Ian asked, snapping out of his thoughts.

Haro just flapped it's ears and Ian said, "Never mind. Haro, could you help get the Gundams back in their containers, the Exia and Virtue first? They need to be fixed up."

"Okay, okay!" Haro chirped and both the Exia and Virtue started up their autopilots with commands from VEDA. As Ian watched the auto docking process he thought, 'This is the first time I've seen the Gundams this damaged. Makes me wonder who the two pilots of the Flags are…'

* * *

_Indian Ocean – uninhabited island_

"Achoo!" Alexi and Hayden sneezed at the same time. Espgarude looked over at them and asked, "What was that?"

"It's nothing." Alexi quickly replied. It was around nighttime and Alexi, Hayden, Espgarude, and Lufione were going over the damages that the two GT Flags had sustained from their fight with the Gundams. While they were relatively intact, the two Flags looked like they barely survived a fight with one of the three bloc's armies. Espgarude looked at the twins and said, "We won't be able to fix this kind of damage, we'll need to get back to the Serenity due full repairs."

Lufione had a portable television on her when she flipped to a news channel and it showed the news that terrorist bombings had occurred around the world simultaneously. The other three went over after hearing it and were shocked that something like that would happen. That's when Espgarude's communicator rung and she answered it, showing Lia on screen. She said, "I take it that you just heard about the terrorist bombings. Nonetheless, after Espgarude sent me a report of the condition of the two Flags, I order all of you to come back up into space and meet up on the Serenitatis. Take the AEU orbital elevator up, arrangements have already been made."

"What about the terrorist bombings?" Hayden asked. Lia said, "We can't do anything about them in the meantime, though from what I could gather, they were threats aimed towards us, Celestial Being."

Both Alexi and Hayden were silent as Lia said, "I wish we could do something, but we just don't have enough information at the moment. All we can do is wait and hope the agents can find something."

"Roger that." The four said before communication with Lia was cut. Espgarude turned to the other three and said, "Let's get everything ready to go. We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning."

* * *

_Serenitatis – bridge_

Lia was with Neorith and Serena after talking with the ground crew. Serena didn't particularly like the news about the terrorists as she had similar feelings for them as Lockon did. She shook her head and asked, "So what do we do now?"

"All we can do is wait for now, and I'm considering taking off the probation on you Serena." Lia said seriously.

Serena was surprised to hear that as Lia went on, "I've had another GT Flag built for you and it's being transported as we speak. Things are getting hairier faster than anticipated and we'll actually need more manpower on the field. The state of Alexi and Hayden's Flags are a testament to that."

Nodding Serena said, "I'll do my best Lia."

Lia returned the nod with one of her own as she said, "Let's just hope we or the main members of Celestial Being can resolve this issue soon."

She looked out at the monitor that was showing the Earth and thought, 'Yes, soon…'

* * *

Note: I gotta say, this chapter was much easier to write then the last one. I might replace Ch.6, but for now I'll just concentrate on the next chapter. Other than that, see you next chapter and apologizes for any grammar mistakes. Maybe I should get an editor or a beta reader or something…


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